With the growing awareness on eye donation, which is the only way to treat corneal blindness, the voluntary eye donation is picking up steadily in the district.
The Khammam Eye Bank has collected a total of 948 corneas from dead persons with the consent of their family members in 2016-17.
The eye bank has recorded an 11% increase in cornea collection in the last fiscal compared to 2015-16.
Madineni Drathik (8) of Konijerla, who died of an electric shock in July last year, was the youngest cornea donor. A resident of Wyra, 104-year-old Mullapati Narasamma, whose eyes were donated by her family members following her death due to heart attack in March this year, is the oldest cornea donor in the district, sources said.
The ongoing campaign christened ‘Donate eyes – gift sight’ is percolating to the rural areas as is evident from the fast increasing number of voluntary eye donations, said R.A. Padmanabham, secretary, Khammam Eye Bank.
The eye bank has a sophisticated microscope for evaluation of corneas and four vehicles to transport the bodies of the deceased donors to their native places.
