37th National Eye donation fortnight observed from 25.8.2022 to 8.9.20222 at the PGIMER, Chandigarh concluded today.

37th National Eye donation fortnight observed from 25.8.2022 to 8.9.20222 at the PGIMER, Chandigarh concluded today. The fortnight was inaugurated by Prof Vivek Lal, Director, PGIMER and Prof. S.S. Pandav, Head, Advanced Eye Centre on 25.8.2022 by releasing the balloons in the air.
National Eye Donation Fortnight is a 15 days campaign celebrated every year by Govt. of India wherein health institutes and other stakeholders are encouraged to campaign for mass public awareness for eye donation and to motivate citizens to pledge their eyes after death. The celebration of National Eye Donation Fortnight has been going successfully since 1985.
At present, around 1.1 million people are corneal blind in India and the current annual transplant number in the country varies from 25000- 30000. In PGIMER, around 2800 patients are waiting for their 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.
In this year, a lecture series was organized for eye donation in schools, colleges, public places, FM AIR Chandigarh & DD Chandigarh for public awareness. The winners of the painting competition, article writing competition and other activities were felicitated by Chief Guest on 8.9.2022 on closing ceremony at Advanced Eye Centre, PGI, Chandigarh. Besides this, messages of eye donation were also displayed at prominent places including religious places in collaboration with Lions club central, Chandigarh for sensitization of the general public regarding this noble cause.