Tag: Eye donation

Health

India Needs Four Times More Eye Donors to Support the Annual Demand for 1 Lakh Corneal Transplantations, says Dr. Badri Prasad Dogne

Aug 31, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital, #Dr. Badri Prasad Dogne, #Eye donation

Hyderabad: Blindness is a major cause of concern around the world today. In India, an estimated 20 lakh people suffer from blindness caused by damages to the cornea, the clear transparent outer layer of the eye. More than a quarter of the cases of corneal blindness can be resolved if transplantations are done without delay. Just like any other body organ, the cornea of the eye can also be donated after death. “With tens of thousands of corneal blindness cases being added every year to the existing burden, the annual demand for corneal transplantations is on the rise and to meet this dearth, the public needs to be educated on eye donation. On this National Eye Donation Fortnight let us highlight the importance of pledging our eyes,” says, Dr. Badri Prasad Dogne, Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital, Hyderabad.

He further adds that Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital offers the unique PDEK procedure where a single donated eye can render vision to two or more people.

Who can donate eyes?

An eye donor can belong to any sex or age. However, there are a few diseases which can restrict the donation of the eyes like AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, Rabies, Septicaemia, Acute leukemia (Blood cancer), Tetanus, Cholera, and infectious diseases like Meningitis and Encephalitis.

Dr. Badri Prasad Dogne mentions a few points for public awareness in relation to eye donation.

Eyes can be donated only after death.
Eyes must be removed within 4 – 6 hours after death.
Eyes can be removed by a registered medical practitioner only.
The eye bank team will visit the home of the deceased or the hospital to remove the eyes.
Eye removal does not delay the funeral since the entire procedure takes 20-30 minutes only.
A small quantity of blood will be drawn to rule out communicable diseases.
Eye retrieval does not cause disfigurement.
The identities of both the donor and the recipient are kept confidential.
In relation to eye pledge and eye collection procedures, the eye donation of the deceased has to be authorized by the next of kin even if the deceased has pledged his or her eyes.
Use of spectacles for short sightedness, long sightedness or astigmatism or even those operated for cataract is also not a contraindication.

Enucleation of the Eyes

Eyes are to be enucleated preferably within six to eight hours of death. After enucleation the eyes are sent to eye banks for evaluation and further distribution. The eyes are evaluated by trained technicians as per the international standards. The deserving blind patients are called in accordance with the waiting list. Even emergency cases are dealt with in conformity with the guidelines prescribed.

Importance of Eye Donation

On the importance of eye donation, Dr. Badri Prasad Dogne says, “Due to the little or no awareness, social or religious reservations, and various other reasons eye donation is yet to get its due importance in our country. Various misunderstandings and misbeliefs act as a roadblock for this noble deed.”

He further adds, “Today the number of eye donations made is only about 50,000 per year in India – in other words, eyes are collected only from less than 0.5% of about 1 crore people who die in the country in a year. Therefore, awareness must be created about eye donation. Also, infrastructure such as eye banks and research centers must be increased to facilitate more eye donations.” At times when eye donations cannot be used for transplantation, they are forwarded for research and education. Whole eye research has led to advancements in the understanding of the cause and effects of conditions such as glaucoma, retinal disease, eye complications of diabetes and other sight disorders.

Business World

“Give life to a dead eye”. COVID-19 hits Eye Donations very hard in India

Oct 12, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Cornea Andhatv Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (CAMBA), #Dhatri Mother's Milk Bank, #Dr. Santosh Kumar, #Eye donation, #National Eye Donation Pledge Contest, #Santosh Kumar Kraleti, #Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2” (SARS-Cov-2)

The “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2” (SARS-Cov-2) has done more damage in every sphere of life than one had imagined. The COVID-19 has hit very hard the Indian Eye Donations.

Nearly 30,000 people used to donate corneal tissue every year and the number of Corneal Tissue stood at 60,000 last year.

Shockingly the number has come down now to just 10%, ie. about 6000 corneal tissues informs Dr. Santosh Kumar Kraleti, All India Joint Secretary of SAKSHAM and Country Director of CAMBA. SAKSHAM is a charitable national organization with a major presence in Hyderabad. CAMBA is a project of SAKSHAM.

It has recently organised a Nationwide movement, “National Eye Donation Pledge Contest” which achieved a record number of 3.08 lakh Eye Pledges from across India in just 14 days. Both Telugu states put together mobilised 34000 plus Corneas Pledged during this competition. Lucknow District stood first in India in mobilising 35, 717 Eye Pledges, Jabalpur District stood second with 30,641 Eyes Pledged. The campaign covered 678 Districts out of 739 districts in the country. 49 districts pledge 1000 and above and 7 districts pledged 10,000 eyes and more.

“Cornea Andhatv Mukt Bharat Abhiyan (CAMBA)” is a pan India movement of Saksham to bring down the incidence of Corneal Blindness in India and to motivate millions of Indians to pledge their eyes for this noble cause. And we hope that this initiative will spark and motivate more people to

come forward and donate corneas tissues.

We need two lakh corneas every year on an assumption that 50% of them are not fit for transplantation. We have more than 400 Eye Banks in India. Still, we collect 60,000 corneas annually and 50% of them are not fit for corneal transplantation. Eye Banks have to be more efficient. Sri Lanka exports Corneas to 27 countries. Their PM and their Buddhist religious gurus promote eye donation. In 2018, Sri Lanka has exported 48,000 corneas to 27 countries. One in five Sri Lankans have pledged to donate their corneas, says Dr. Prashanth Garg from LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad.

Though India has more than 600 Eye Banks, the eye donations(Corneal Tissues) is very very low. The USA has just 57 eye banks. In 2018. U.S. eye banks reported 133,576 total tissue recoveries from 68,102 donors in 2018. Their eye banks are far more effective than ours.

We have 12 lakh corneal blind in our country with 25,000-30,000 new cases being added every year. The burden of corneal blindness in our country is 0.12 per cent. But, with eye donations falling drastically due to COVID the gap is further widened and the disease burden is on the rise says Dr. Santosh Kumar. Fewer donations have led to a serious shortage of the corneal tissue needed for transplants to restore vision in people suffering from the loss of eyesight due to irreparable damage of the tissue, he adds.

The only answer to this is replacing the impaired cornea in the patients. We need Two lakh corneas every year, but, only around 60,000 corneas are available due to lack of motivation and awareness says Dr. Santosh.

Nearly 80 lakh people die every year which means 1.6 crore corneas are buried and burnt. If the corneas of all the dead are donated, the blindness can be removed from India completely within no time. And it is possible. But, we need a massive awareness says Dr. Santosh Kumar, who is also the founder-director of Dhatri Mother’s Milk Bank, India’s largest mother’s breast milk bank located at Niloufer.

We need to revive the eye donation movement which took a major hit because of the outbreak of the pandemic. This has resulted in a rise in the burden and also the waiting list is on the rise.

Eye donation provides the gift of sight to those in need of a transplant. Hence, I urge people to come forward and donate the eyes of their deceased family member. Corneal donation is important because it can restore vision and reduce pain for those in need of a transplant. Over 95% of all corneal transplants restore the recipient’s vision. Unlike blood donation, most people are potential to donate corneas. The age, eye colour and eyesight do not stop you from the donation. Further, a donor’s blood need not match to the recipient’s blood type. This means everybody can be an eye donor.