As the world marks the World Sight Day, which is held on second Thursday of October, it is startling to know that Bengal, which ranks among the highest in blood donation in the country, has an abysmal record when it comes to donating eyes. (See box)

“It is quite ironical. Even today people are superstitious when it comes to eye donation,” says Malay Roy, secretary of International Eye Bank.

While people are more aware about donating eyes as compared to the past, doctors rue that the numbers are simply not enough.

“On an average if around 200 bodies are cremated everyday, 400 eyes are going waste. If we get even four to six eyes that would raise the count,” adds Roy.

The director of the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO), Dr Himadri Dutt, feels that there are just not enough collection centres in the state and even less is the number of doctors willing to conduct the cornea-transplant operations. A view echoed by Dr Samar Basak, who is the secretary of Eye Bank Association of India.

“The process of collecting the eyes is very haphazard in the state. There is absolutely no infrastructure as few hospitals in the state have the necessary licence to conduct these transplant operations,” says Basak, who is a doctor with Disha, one of the two private hospitals to have an eye bank.

According to him, there should be greater effort to decentralise the system and grant more licences to hospitals, especially in smaller cities, for conducting these surgeries.

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