Promotion of Eye donation awareness & number of Keratoplasty operations: Comparative Study. Dr. Baban C. Dolas M.S. (Ophthalm) Nityaseva Eye Hospital & Global Vision Foundation Eye Bank, Pune.

Introduction: It is a fact that eye donation movement is negligible in our country due to lack of awareness, religious belief & taboos. Increase in Eye donations is need of today but preparation of minds of patients to undergo keratoplasy & also finding such patients through special camps is of more importance.

Objectives : To determine effect of Public awareness on eye donation To compare the Eye donation with Keratoplasty operations

Materials and Methods Eye donation promotion activities adopted by eye banks in Pune and its impact on the rate and quality of tissue procurement was studied prospectively from Jan 2010 to Mar 2011. Teachers and school children were involved in spreading the message on eye donation by holding poster painting competition, slogans writing etc.  

Corporate sectors involved to participate and sponsor activities like sponsoring grief counselor/ Medical Social Workers in major hospitals to motivate the family members of the deceased to donate his/her eyes.   Cable operators involved to Flash messages and put Eye donation information through cable network. Religious institutions and leaders were asked to spread the message of eye donation.

Eye donation display board/ banners put on mortuaries, cremation grounds, hospitals and the public gathering place like railway stations, bus stops etc.   Support taken from influential persons such as politicians, sports persons and celebrities etc. to promote eye donation. Awareness campaign on Eye donation done through NGO's, Senior Citizens Group, Youth Association and Resident Welfare Association etc.

Public awareness was made through print, audiovisual presentation, involvement of NGOs & social workers, observing eye donation fortnight, mobilization of eye donation pledges etc. Also side by side list of patients required to undergo keratoplasty was prepared by regular OPD & by conducting special camps for such patients.

Results : Jan 2010 to Mar 2011, 2056 eyeballs received by Donation…Total no. of keratoplasty done were 754

Total number of public awareness activities taken by Eye banks & District Blindness Control Society from Jan 2010 to Mar. 2011 were 210. Out of that almost 52 were taken during eye donation fortnight (25 August to 8 September) that almost 25% of the activities. As compared to eye donation awareness activities, there were no special efforts to find patients for keratoplasty. There were nil special camps to find out such beneficiaries for keratoplasty.

List of such beneficiaries was made by routine OPD patients. At some places, special cornea OPDs were held to find out such patients but mostly routine OPD patients were referred to such OPDs. On an average at a given time list of such beneficiaries were not more than 400 including all eye banks & Government setups.

Among 2056 eyeballs collected, 38 eyeballs were Received from one eyebank to other due to unavailability or unwillingness of available patients to undergo keratoplasty. Though total number of collected eyes increased Steadily proving the benefit of eye donation Movement; Comparatively those patients who require keratoplasty were less & also among those almost 25 % were not willing to undergo procedure. 90 % among those 25 % were having unilateral problems with other eye having good vision (> 6/24).

DISCUSSION Nearly 10 lacs are corneal blind people in the country. Majority of them are young in the productive age group who have lost their vision either due to injuries, infection/ malnutrition or were congenital in nature etc. The sight can be restored only by corneal transplantation.

Corneal infection is the most common cause of bilateral corneal blindness. There is a high frequency of involvement of one eye with subsequent involvement of the other eye at a later date. This is more commonly seen in the rural population, particularly in those belonging to a lower socioeconomic stratum and those who are illiterate and tend to be ignorant about proper eye care. Pattern of bilateral blinding corneal disease in patients waiting for keratoplasty in a tertiary eye care centre in northern India. Cornea. 2010 Mar;29(3):269-71.Tandon R, Sinha R, Moulick P, Agarwal P, Titiyal JS, Vajpayee RB. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.

Though there has been progress in Eye Donation, only 42,000 (approx.) eyes were collected last year with the efforts of eye banks in Govt. & Non Government sectors in India put together, whereas our requirement is around 75000 to 100000 corneas per year. Collection of donor materials is low even in metros & big cities where facilities for treatment of corneal blindness are available.

India has largest blind population NEW DELHI: India is now home to the world's largest number of blind people. Of the 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India. What's worse, 75% of these are cases of avoidable blindness, thanks to the country's acute shortage of donated eyes for the treatment of corneal blindness. Kounteya Sinha, TNN Oct 11, 2007, 02.32am IST

Promoting pledging for Eye Donation has definitely led to increase in public awareness about eye donation. But, since donation can happen only after death, there is no direct relationship between pledging for eye donation and actual collection of the donated eyes.

Conclusions & Recommendation: This study concludes that awareness campaigns promote public for Eye donation, so that such activities should be held more frequently. There is also need for preparation of minds of patients to undergo keratoplasy & also finding such patients through special camps is of more importance.

REFERENCES : 1. Pattern of bilateral blinding corneal disease in patients waiting for keratoplasty in a tertiary eye care centre in northern India. Cornea. 2010 Mar;29(3):269- 71. 2. Tandon R, Sinha R, Moulick P, Agarwal P, Titiyal JS, Vajpayee RB. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. 3. Kounteya Sinha, TNN Oct 11, 2007, 02.32am IST

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: 1. District Blindness Control Society, Pune. 2. All eyebanks & Eye donation centers, Pune District 3. Health Department, statistical section, Maharashtra. 4. Dr. Harshal Pandve, M.D.(P.S.M.)

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