Surat has emerged as the topmost collector of eyes for donation and has been awarded by the Eye Bank Association of India, Hyderabad, for this achievement. The Lok Drashti Eye Bank achieved this distinction during the ongoing national blindness awareness programme.

The Lok Drashti Eye Bank in Surat functions under a charitable trust and had collected a total of 639 eyes during the last financial year.

In the first quarter of the current financial year, the eye bank continues to hold its number one position with 180 eye collections. The eye bank provides eyes on request, free of cost. Donate eyes can be preserved for a month in a special solution and at a required temperature.

Dr Praful Shiroya of Lok Drashti Eye Bank said: “The public mindset is changing slowly and they are now willing to donate eyes. We have conducted several awareness campaigns by going to schools, organising blood donation camps, distributing pamphlets and so on. Now, people contact us for eye donation. The demand is high, but supply is still less. Now, we are trying to expand and go to the rural areas and neighbouring districts.”

According to Shiroya, the beneficiaries come from different states and different districts, and majority of the customers are from south Gujarat. “Our bank has also supplied eyes to Mumbai, Indore, Rajasthan, MP and so on,” he said.

Balwant Gujjar (50), a resident of Umarpada taluka in Tapi district in south Gujarat, had lost vision five years ago after cataract formed in both his eyes. After surgery, there was some infection due to which he lost his vision completely. But he recently underwent an eye transplant surgery at the SMIMER Hospital and regained his vision. “I had lost hope when I lost my eyesight. But now, I feel as if I have had a rebirth,” Gujjar said.

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