Khattar directs officials for special campaign to raise awareness about eye donation

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday directed the officials during a meeting that a special campaign should be launched to make people aware of eye donation.

Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday directed the officials during a meeting that a special campaign should be launched to make people aware of eye donation. He said eye donation is truly a divine deed. Khattar also said that health checkups should be organized for schoolchildren at least once a year. Besides this, wide publicity should be done to make the information about the activities, programmes implemented by the National Health Mission, said Khattar while presiding over the 8th general body meeting of State Health Society, NHM Haryana, an official statement said here on Thursday.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, Urban Local Bodies Minister Kamal Gupta and Development and Panchayat Minister Devender Babli were also present at the meeting. The chief minister directed that the State Action Plan prepared to make Haryana anaemia-free should be implemented expeditiously so that this target can be achieved at the earliest. He further directed that a portal should be launched on which patients can register information about the need for artificial limbs.

In the meeting, Vij directed the officers that work should be done at a fast pace for ensuring kitchen facilities in the hospitals so that nutritious food can be made available to the patients and their attendants. Gupta said that during an eye examination, special attention should also be done for the screening of amblyopia. Amblyopia mostly goes undiagnosed, due to which the eyesight of children becomes weak, he said.

He said that it is a vision development disorder, which affects the eyes and brain during infancy and childhood, hence it needs special attention. The chief minister was apprised by the officials that 23 eye donation centres have been set up in the state. Two eye banks will also be set up at Karnal and Nuh. A survey of Gurugram, Yamunanagar, Fatehabad and Nuh districts will be conducted with the help of ophthalmologists from AIIMS, under which more than 20,000 people will undergo eye examination. (PTI)