By A.P Irungovel National Eye Donation Fortnight Exclusive: Medical Sociologist Sankara Nethralaya The Importance of Eye Donation 18 College Road, Chennai 600006 Email: [email protected] Phone: 044 4500 1919, 9840821919 A.P Irungovel The eyes need to be collected within six hours, and so the eye bank has to be called as early as possible. After making the call, both eyes will need to be closed and covered with moist cotton. Any overhead fans should be turned off. If possible, antibiotic eye drops may be periodically instilled in the eyes in order to reduce chances of infection. The head end of the body could be kept raised by about 6 inches in order to reduce any bleeding during eye removal. The removal will leave no visible signs that would interfere with common funeral arrangements and practices. There is no religious conflict involved. The donation actually gives a gift of life or sight to others. As such, it is consistent with the beliefs and attitudes of all major religious and ethical traditions. The whole eye cannot be transplanted, only the cornea can be. The rest of the eye is used for therapeutic use, research and education. The ultimate decision about usage for transplantation will be made after evaluation. A living person cannot donate eyes. A recipient is not told who donated the eye: the gift of sight is made anonymously. At the eye bank, the donor corneas are strictly evaluated by means of various procedures including slit lamp examination, serology examination, and specular microscopic evaluation by specialists. The chosen corneas are removed from the eyeball and preserved in special storage solutions that can keep the cornea healthy for 14 days. Good quality corneas are used for corneal transplant procedures. The donor corneas are used for various types of keratoplasty procedures including multiple procedures. The donor sclera is preserved in absolute alcohol and used for surgical procedures concerning glaucoma, ocular trauma and oculoplasty. The remaining parts of the donor eye ball are used for research by the research units of Microbiology, Biochemistry, Ocular Pathology, and Molecular Biology. The following steps will aid the noble cause. Dial the eye bank soon after the unfortunate death of a near and dear one. Give your consent to donate the eyes of your close relatives and friends. Motivate the family members of anyone who has died in your area. Spread information about eye care and eye donation. Institutions of eye care strive to create a positive impact, and comprehensive and quality eye care has become the core objective of one among them, the Chennai-based Sankara Nethralaya. The author and Executives from Eye Bank of the Sankara Nethralaya frequently organizes public health education programmes in schools, colleges, and industrial establishments in collaboration with non-governmental organisations, where issues relating to eye care and eye donation are explained. The author and his associates can come and deliver a lecture in Tamil or English, with interactive sessions, if you could organise a seminar or awareness programme in your area, office, club, flat association, school and so on. You can sponsor stickers with messages on eye donation and other publicity material and distribute them to the public with the help of the eye bank. Make yourself a friend of the Eye Bank. To take pledge to donate your eyes visit: https://www.sankaranethralaya.org/eye-pledge.html Sankara Nethralaya has a dedicated phone line available round-the- clock for eye bank and eye donation: 044-28281919 and 044-28271616. A TO Z INDIA SEPTEMBER 2022 PAGE 15