Eye donation drive hit hard

Eye donation drive hit hard
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Highlights

Harish Nanjappa, a 21-year-old software engineer in Karnataka, died in a road accident in February 2016, but gave life to nine people through organ donation. On one ill-fated day when Harish was returning from his village to Bengaluru, a lorry ran over him and his body was cut into two pieces.

Hyderabad: Harish Nanjappa, a 21-year-old software engineer in Karnataka, died in a road accident in February 2016, but gave life to nine people through organ donation. On one ill-fated day when Harish was returning from his village to Bengaluru, a lorry ran over him and his body was cut into two pieces.

He screamed for help and told people nearby, “I have pledged for organ donation,” and in next 10 minutes an ambulance arrived to retrieve his organs including his eyes. Can we set an example like Harish Nanjappa?

As the State is celebrating National Eye Donation, which began on August 25 and will be continued till September 8, it has come to light that there is no emphasis on increasing the number of grief counsellors and the government failed to create an awareness about the campaign.

Currently, grief counsellors are working only at Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi Hospital and NIMS. The grief counsellors are trained to deal with the tender moment and convince the families of those who have pledged their eyes. Dr K Santosh, Public Health Specialist said there is a need for more number of grief counsellors in private hospitals across Telangana, which will increase eye donations.

Meanwhile, the society needs torch bearers to motivate citizens for eye donation. The communication gap between the family and the eye bank operatives usually causes the delay in eyes retrieval.

Ganpathi Ganesh, Vice president of eye banks association of India said all the corneas have to be evaluated with various parameters. Only 50 per cent corneas had been utilised while the rest went waste because of the patient’s health condition.

Dr B Motilal Naik, Joint Director, National Programme for Control of Blindness told The Hans India that per year we need around 4 lakh corneas but are only able to retrieve less due to lack of awareness regarding eye donations.

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