Vijayawada: Red Cross to launch massive campaign on eye donation

Vijayawada: The only donation which could be done after death is eye donation, said former District Governor of the Lions Club Dr Puttagunta Satish Kumar while inaugurating the fortnight celebrations of the eye donation at the Atheist Centre here on Wednesday.

Addressing the gathering, Dr Satish Kumar said that one person's eye donation would give light to two persons. He exhorted people to come forward to donate eyes leaving aside the blind beliefs.

Indian Red Cross Society AP chairman Dr A Sridhar Reddy said that there were 30 lakh corneal blind persons in the country which could be rectified with eye donation. It is pathetic that only 25,000 people donating eyes every year, he said and announced that the Red Cross Society would undertake a massive campaign on eye donation.

Executive director of Swetcha Gora Eye Bank Dr G Samaram deplored that though every year 80 lakh people are dying in the country, the eye donation is not crossing thousands. He exhorted people to take up eye donation as social responsibility.

Dr B Keerthi, presiding over the meeting said that the eye donation is the symbol of humanity. The cornea should be collected from the body within six hours after the death.

Noted ophthalmologists Vijaysekhar, Dr Kamineni Ashok Babu and others also spoke.

Earlier, the guests released several posters to bring awareness on eye donation.