Ahmedabad, March 13:
Aishwarya Rai may have pledged her eyes. So have other cine stars. But it is a non-descript Dholka town of some 40,000 people in Ahmedabad district that has given the country over a lakh pair of eyes.
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As World Sight Day was observed on March 10, the National Programme for Control and Prevention of Blindness gratefully acknowledges the services of 60-year old advocate Gautam Mazumdar who has been the single largest ‘contributor’ of eyes for the country!
For Mazumdar, who frankly cannot remember how many people have benefited by his one-man eye donation campaign, still continues to meet his target of sending 3000 pairs to the government programme. Just like a fire tender that rushes to the spot, Mazumdar began his journey to encourage and inspire people to donate eyes way back in 1965.
”There was no particular reason why I took up this project,” recalls Mazumdar who is the Secretary of the C Samariya Red Cross International Eye bank at Ahmedabad. The network grew slowly but steadily. Neighbouring towns in Ahmedabad too started reporting deaths to Mazumdar who reached the place to appeal to the relatives to donate the dead person's eyes.
Today at a time when there is a huge demand for eyes, the Ministry of Health's Ophthalmology section has no option but to provide more incentives to people and eye banks to donate.
“We can't wait for eye donation fortnights or include another list of celebrities in our campaign. We desperately need more people like Mazumdar who can help the government”, says Dr Rachel Jose, Deputy Director General of Ophthalmology, Ministry of Health, Government of India and the coordinator of the National Programme for Control and Prevention of Blindness in the country.
A recent study of 2003-04 by the government's ophthalmology section shows that the prevalence of blindness is estimated at 1.1 per cent of the population and the worrisome states are Assam (3.05%) and Arunachal Pradesh (2.28%), says Jose, mainly due to militancy and lack of infrastructure in these places.
”The demand for eyes is increasing every year. We need one lakh pairs every year and the present supply from a total of 156 eye banks in the country is pegged at a mere 28,000. Somehow, despite efforts, the number is not increasing. Moreover the study also reveals that there are several misconceptions about eye donation”, Jose rued. Hence the government has decided to increase budgetary support for the programme to Rs 140 crore and create awareness about eye donation.
The government is proposing to give Rs 2000 to anyone willing to donate their pair of eyes. A one-time assistance of Rs 10 lakh for eye banks, which have collected 50 pairs in a year has already been given to some six- seven eye banks in the country. A hospital cornea retrieval programme (HCRP) has been set up and now what the government needs is more people like Mazumdar.
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