Mumbai: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 74 on Tuesday, September 17, people celebrated the occasion in different ways.
Similarly, in a significant move, Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan organised an Eye Donation Awareness Camp at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai, on Tuesday to honour the Prime Minister’s birthday.
At the eye donation awareness camp, attendees included Pravin Darade, principal secretary to the Governor; Shweta Singhal, joint secretary; Jitendra Wagh, comptroller; Dr Pallavi Sapale, dean of JJ Group of Hospitals; Dr Sujata Chahande, head of the Department of Ophthalmology; Dr Sanjay Surase, superintendent; officers and employees of Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.
Significantly, there has been a growing trend towards eye donation since the late Dr RES Muthiah established India’s first eye bank and performed the first corneal transplantation in 1948. The Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI) plays a pivotal role in this, with its main goal being to encourage individuals to donate their eyes.
According to the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), in May 2023, India had 120,000 corneal blind people, with an additional 25,000-30,000 cases reported each year. However, with only around 22,000 donor eye collections every year, which is minimal in comparison to the requirement, the need for more eye donors in India is more pressing than ever.
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