Chandigarh : 25 August : As the nation observes the 35th National Eye donation fortnight from 25th August till 8th September, the campaign for it also started at the PGIMER, Chandigarh. The fortnight was inaugurated with release of balloons by Prof Jagat Ram, Director PGIMER & Head, Advanced Eye Centre in the presence of Shri Kumar Gaurav, DDA, PGIMER, Shri Kumar Abhay, FA PGIMER and District Governor Lion PMJF Shri P.R Jairath.
The function was also attended by the staff and Corneal Transplant faculty of the Advanced Eye Centre comprising of Prof SS Pandav, Prof Amit Gupta, Dr Chintan Malhotra, Dr Parul Chawla and members of Lions Club, Chandigarh comprising of Mr Harish Goyal (President Lions Club), Mr Lalit Behl, Mr Satish Bhaskar, Mr Sapra and Mr Harish.
Prof Jagat Ram highlighted the problems in eye donation in general and during COVID times in particular. Special measures have been implemented in the Advanced Eye Centre to increase the donation of eyes during the COVID era. He requested more and more people to come forward and pledge to be eye donors.
The celebration of National Eye Donation Fortnight has been going on successfully since 1985. At present, around 1.1 million people are corneal blind in India and current annual transplant number is around 50,000. In PGIMER, around 2800 patients are waiting for corneal transplantation but the hospital gets only 600-700 corneas every year. The objective of this fortnight is to create mass public awareness and to bridge the gap between the demand and supply of cornea.
Unlike previous years, where eye donation lectures are delivered and awareness activities are done at schools, colleges and public places; this year keeping social distancing in mind, special activities have been planned so as to keep the zeal of eye donation going on during this time as well.
Some of the activities include an online message writing & video making competition on eye donation, webinar on eye donation awareness and a talk show. Besides this, messages of eye donation will be displayed at various religious places with collaboration of Lions club, Chandigarh for sensitization of general public regarding this noble cause.
Thanks & Regards
Public Relations Office,
PGIMER, Chandigarh.
pro9pgimer@gmail.com
