AHMEDABAD, Aug 23: The health department will organise a series of programmes between August 25 and September 8 to encourage eye donations and control blindness throughout the State.Announcing this in the inaugural function of a workshop on eye donation at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad, Health Minister Ashok Bhatt said that there were 20,000 visually handicapped in the State, mainly suffering from different retina infections, resulting into blindness. The government wanted to control blindness and thus planned `eye donation fortnight' from the month end.
Expressing his concern over the increasing blindness in the country, Bhatt said the number has shot up to a shocking 1.20 crore.
Bhatt said the fortnight will be observed in the premises of M J Institute of Ophthalmology in civil hospital. A workshop on eye donation will follow the programme.
Quoting the health department reports, he said that intra ocular lens will be fitted to blind people having family income of less than Rs 11,000 and the State government has made special provision in the budget for the purpose.
In another function, Bhatt said that there was dire need to use modern technology for solving problems of deaf and dumb. He also said that the disabled should be treated with love and sympathy.
While speaking about health problems of labourers in the field, he said that doctors should do more research in that field and contribute to make the state health policy more healthy.
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