On Eye Donation Day,Dharia,wife pledge eyes

Col (retd) Madan Deshpande,Chief Medical Director HV Desai Eye Hospital said that their eye bank had collected as many as 246 eye balls since January this year and a rural eye bank project has been set up on a pilot basis. There couldn’t be a greater form of charity than donating an organ to a person who desperately needs it to survive normally,said Deshpande and said that their eye bank has in the last four years been able to collect 1,426 eye balls.

“We have selected doctors,social workers,optometrists and others at eight rural places and have trained them. Under the project, ten eye balls are collected every month,”said Deshpande,who is the executive board member of the Vision 2020 project. He has urged the government to introduce a column on “whether I want to donate my eyes or not” on the death certificate. Donating a cadaver’s eyes does not lead to disfigurement of the face. Nor does it have any implications on the soul of the person or its future births,said Kakane.

According to Deshpande there is a requirement of three lakh eye balls in a year and only 35,000 are collected from various centres in the country. “Apart from Mohan Dharia and his wife,a total of 197 people have filled forms pledging their eyes in the last two days,” said Bhoi.