Aishwarya Rai

For a city that isn’t home to a chapter of the Eye Bank Association of india - the national body that roped in stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai for its eye donation campaigns - awareness on this social cause is fairly high.

The local Lok Drishti Eye Bank has 1.5 lakh pledges of eye donation in its kitty, while the Old and New Civil Hospitals chip in with a few thousand more between them.

Despite all the good intention, the list of people waiting for a donor cornea seems to be getting longer. The problem arises at the time of execution.

“More than the pledges, we bank on people donating their eyes as part of their will or families taking the real initiative to get the donation through after a donor’s demise,” says Preeti Kapadia, head, ophthalmology department, New Civil Hospital.

Kapadia says that at any given time, there are at least 50 people waiting to get cornea transplants at NCH.

The NCH conducts at least two to three corneal transplant surgeries every month, while Lok Drishti Eye Bank has supplied more than 9,500 donor corneas to various hospitals across the city in the eight years.

Prafull Shiroya of Lok Drishti says, “We conduct a number of activities to spread awareness, due to which people come forward to pledge their eyes.”

Besides putting up stalls at various trade fairs of chambers of commerce, the local media also chips in by regular articles. A helpline is also active for prospective donors to clear their doubts about eye donation.

According to Kapadia, despite the efforts, there is need to educate people.

“Emergency transplant cases present the biggest problem. People don’t realize that anyone who has a healthy cornea can donate their eyes, which includes people who are blind. People who wear spectacles can also donate their eyes. There are still a lot of myths about eye donation,” Kapadia says.