Hyderabad:The National Eye Donation Fortnight is observed every year from 25th August to 8th September.
It is a campaign which aims to create mass public awareness about the importance of eye donation and to motivate people to pledge their eyes for donation after death.
Blindness is one of the major public health problems in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization, corneal diseases (Damage to the tissue covering the front of the eye called the cornea) are among the major causes of vision loss and blindness, after cataract and glaucoma.
The goal of the national eye donation fortnight
- Encourage people to share their eyes after death.
- Educate people that eye donation does no harm after death.
- Spreading knowledge about the need for an eye transplant.
Facts about eye donation
- One can donate the eyes only after death and within 4 to 6 hours of death, the eyes must be removed by only a registered medical practitioner.
- The eye bank team needs to visit the home of the deceased or the hospital to remove the eyes.
- Eye removal does not delay or interfere in the funeral as it takes about 20 to 30 minutes for getting the entire process done.
- A small quantity of blood is taken to rule out communicable diseases of any kind.
- Removal of eyes does not cause disfigurement and does not hurt any religious sentiments.
- The identities of both the donor and the recipient are kept confidential.