Tamil Nadu   

Eye donation yet to catch on

R. Sujatha

Donors often fail to inform family or physician of their intent

CHENNAI: In a country with 2.60 lakh blind children, the efforts of eye hospitals to promote eye donation is just a drop in the ocean, say ophthalmologists.

Doctors at Sankara Nethralaya cite World Health Organisation's statistics: every third blind person is an Indian; of the 270-lakh people who suffer from eye defects, 90 lakh are blind in both eyes. More than half of them suffer from corneal defects. And, blindness can be prevented or treated in 66 per cent of affected children.

G. Sitalakshmi, director of corneal services at Sankara Nethralaya, says anyone aged between two and 90 can donate their eyes.

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