Eye donation means people pledging to donate their eyes after death to be used for corneal grafting for restoring sight to corneal blind

people.

Why Eye Donation is required?

Corneal Blindness is one of the most common causes of blindness in India. Every five seconds, one individual goes blind.

At present 18,000 corneas are collected in the country every year whereas we need 100,000 corneas in a year to fight corneal blindness.

What is Corneal Blindness?

The cornea is the clear tissue covering the front of the eye. It is a

focusing element of the eye. Vision will be dramatically reduced

or lost if the cornea becomes cloudy from disease, injury or

infection.

Main causes of Corneal Blindness

InjuriesMalnutritionInfectionsChemical burnsCongenital disordersPost operative complications or infections

Who can Donate Eye?Any person can be an eye donor.Persons younger than 18 years must have the

authorization of the parents or guardian.It does not matter even if youWear glassesAre hypertensive Are diabetic, or Have undergone any eye surgery

What is the role of Religion in Eye Donation?

All major religious faiths approve of and support donation of eyes for the restoration of sight.

Who will benefit from Eye Donation?

 An estimated 3 million people who are blind due to corneal diseases are eligible for corneal transplantation.

Eyes have to be removed within six hours of time of death. So, lose no time in informing the nearest Eye Bank. You could be instrumental in ensuring an eye donation in time. If someone unfortunately dies in your family or friend circle, remember to call the nearest Eye Bank. This can be done irrespective of whether the deceased had pledged his / her eyes or not.

Switch off fans, keep air conditioner or cooler running and place wet cotton with ice over the closed eyelids. It will help keep the tissue moist . Raise head with a pillow.

  The Eye Bank personnel with a doctor or trained technician visits

the donors home. This is done free. 10 cc of blood sample is collected from the donor for testing. The eyes are removed by a trained person using sterile procedure.

It leaves no scar disfigurement of the face. Eye donation gives sight to two blind persons as one blind person receives one donated eye.

On reaching the Eye Bank, tissues are examined, processed and used for corneal transplant operation as early as possible.

The needy patients are contacted in accordance with the waiting list at the Eye Bank. Emergency cases are dealt within conformity of guidelines.

The donated eyes are never bought or sold. Request for eye donation is always attended to.

The recipient of corneal will always remain anonymous but the donor family should be satisfied knowing that the eyes have been used to restore the vision of two blind persons.

EYE BANKING IN INDIA

In India , thee are approximately 120 lakh blind in both eyes and 80 lakh blind in one eye , which is about one fourth of the total blind population of the world . This means 14.9 out of every 1000 people in India are blind compared to just 3 per 1000 in the developed countries.

Blindness in most cases is avoidable that is, either preventable or curable. Of the 120 lakh blind, approximately 103 lakh are curable by relatively simple operations, unfortunately yet they remain uncured.

Seven lakh of Indias population suffering from corneal blindness, mostly children in their early childhood, can be cured by corneal transplantation.

Although there are enough qualified surgeons and plenty of potential patients, corneal transplantation cannot be carried out due to lack of donor corneas

The reason for very low number of eye donations are manifold

Lack of awareness in general publicImproper development of infrastructureAbsence of motivation even among the trained

personnel orSocial and religious taboos

How do I donate my eye?

Contact the nearest eye bank by phone or personal visit and it will register your pledge to donate eyes and will provide you with an eye donation Card. It is preferable if all the members of the family pledge their eyes together,

However any person can individually pledge eyes at any time in his / her life.

The eyes of a deceased person can also be donated whether he / she has pledged the eyes in his /her life or not. Under the law, relatives of the deceased can donate his/ her eye provided he/ she (the deceased) had never spoken against eye donation.

What part of the donated eye is useful? All parts of the eye are useful. The corneal

(front portion) of the eye is used for transplantation.

NO EYES ARE WASTED

How Will the Donated eyes be used?

After the eyes are acquired, the eyes will be processed by the Eye Bank and supplied to the eye specialists who will transplant the corneal tissue into the eye of a person blinded by corneal disease.

EYE DONATION"

Let it be your family tradition

Address & Contact number of Eye Bank State / City Code EyeBank Telephone Nos

Andhra Pradesh      

Hanamkonda 08712 Kalyani Nursing Home 77887, 70265, 77077

Hyderabad 040 Ramayamma International Eye Bank 3548266, 3608262

    Sadhuram Eye Hospital Charitable Trust 3221094

    Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital 3317274

Karimnagar 08722 Lions Club of Karimnagar Charitable Eye Hospital  82273

Mahbubnagar 08542 Kakatiya Eye Clinic 42505, 43989

Nidadavole 08813 Smt. Rajeshwari Ramakrishna Lions Eye Hospital 22000

Ongole 08592 Ongole Eye Bank 33767, 31488

Puttaparti 08555 Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences 87388, 87551 to 3

Vijayawada 0866 Aravinda Eye Bank 433018

    Swetcha Gora Eye Bank 470966, 472330

Visakhapatnam 0891 Netra 546915, 546413

    Visakha Eye Hospital 566383, 566385

New Delhi 011 Ed.Maumenee Eye Bank 1919 6252185, 6251715

  0172 Guru Nanak Eye Bank 3234622, 3234612,3235145.

    National Eye Bank 6593177    Rotary Central Eye Bank 5721800,

5781837Ahmedabad 079 C.S. Samariya Red Cross International Eye  Bank. 

7450633 / 7413333.

  079 Gujarat Research & Medical Institute 7866311, 12, 13

Bhavnagar 0278 Indian Red Cross Society 424761, 430700

Chikhodra 02652  Gujarat Blind Relief & Health Assn 42387

Mehsana 02762 Mehasana Jaycees Charitable Trust 51252, 51178

Navsari 02637 Rotary Eye Institute Sant Punit Eye Bank  58920, 58931

Patan 02766 Smt.Sharadaben Shah Eye Bank  20187

Surat 02611. Lok Drashti Eye Bank

2. New Civil Hospital

545232

8346130, 8346133

Vadodara 0265 Medical Care Centre Trust  426272

    Sameep Eye Hospital & Corneal Centre  464436, 461601

Join this movement of "EYE DONATION“

BECOME OUR "Sight Ambassador"

WHY ONLY THESE PEOPLE.EVEN YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

DON’T BURY OR BURN

DONATE EYES AND LIVE FOREVER EVEN AFTER YOUR DEATH