Bengaluru: Minister Sudhakar praises Narayana Nethralaya's initiative on organ donation

Bengaluru: Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education Minister Dr K.Sudhakar has commended the initiative of Narayana Nethralaya, Asia's premier eye hospital, in driving awareness on organ donation, which came down steeply across the State due to Covid-19. The minister has expressed his desire to replicate the model in other healthcare institutes. He also announced his plans to appoint Dr. Bhujang Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Nethralaya, to head a committee on delivering ophthalmological care at a policy level.

Dr Sudhakar made these announcements on Saturday at a programme on 'Eye Donation' as part of the National Programme for Control of Blindness, organised by Narayana Nethralaya on the occasion of 27 years of service in its pledge to bring sight to the blind through its Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank. The programme was organised to update medical, paramedical, technical staff, and volunteers about new developments.

Inaugurating the programme, Dr Sudhakar said Narayana Nethralaya had emerged as a role model for driving awareness initiatives for organ donation, including eye donation, which had reduced drastically due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "Their efforts are highly commendable and worth replicating, as we need to revive organ donation. "We intend to take this up at the State level by enlisting the support of other hospitals," he said.

Recognising the yeoman service of Dr. Bhujang Shetty, Dr. Sudhakar added, "I have appointed eminent people to various health committees. Likewise, Dr Shetty will head a committee to prepare a blueprint for ophthalmological care. His recommendations will be part of the State healthcare policy with respect to eye care."

Speaking on the occasion, Dr K. Bhujang Shetty highlighted the importance of eye donation, as corneal disease is a major cause of blindness accounting for 7.1% of India's blind population.

Dr Shetty said only 10% of the required 400,000 corneas were available for transplanting every year.

"Eye donation is not only a sight giver, but an eye saver. Eye donations had come to a halt during the first three to four months after the outbreak of the pandemic. Even now it is down by more than 60 to 70 per cent," Dr Shetty said.

"Many people lost sight during the pandemic because eye hospitals could not carry out the therapeutic graft. When people developed ulcers in a normal eye, they lost eyes because there were not enough eyes to do the grafting. Therapeutic grafting is important to save the sight," he said.

On an average, Narayana Nethralaya used to collect 150 to 200 eyes every month, now it is collecting only 30 to 40.

Narayana Nethralaya along with the Dr. Rajkumar Eye Bank, Eye Bank Association of India, private hospitals, and other groups is proactively promoting eye donations

G. Ganesh, Executive Director, Eye Bank Association of India, said, "One eye donation can give sight to two or more corneal blind persons."