Eyes of six dead people have been donated to the Ophthalmology Department of Dr BR Ambedkar Hospital, affiliated to the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Raipur, in the first eight days of the ongoing eye donation fortnight in Chhattisgarh.
During the fortnight, in order to increase awareness towards eye donation and safety and cleaning of eyes, intense campaign has been launched in Government hospitals, schools and colleges, officials stated.
On testing, birth defects such as Micro Cornea have been found in the eyes of some children. To save children from such defects in their eyes, pregnant women have been advised not to take any medicine without advice of doctors, especially during the first three months of pregnancy.
Out of the total six people whose eyes have been donated to Dr BR Ambedkar Hospital, five are from Raipur. Immediately after getting permission from the family members of Swayam Jain, 12, resident of Naila Janjgir, the doctors of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital transplanted his cornea to a visually impaired person. He had died in an accident on August 30.
According to officers, it was the fastest transplantation in the State, which has been performed within six hours.In Raipur, eye test of about 3,000 students of seven schools has been done. The State government will provide free spectacles to the needy children.After check up of the 20 children, who are suffering from different eye ailments, they have been referred to Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital.The Health Department will provide free treatment to the children. A total of 40 children were found suffering from conjunctivitis.