Eye donation formalities will have to be modified sufficiently so that eye banks will be able to procure the corneas of all those who have promised to donate their eyes, Madan Deshpande, president, Vision 2020, has said.
Addressing media persons in connection with ‘Drishti 2012,’ the 39th annual conference of the Kerala Society of Ophthalmic Surgeons (KSOS), here on Friday, he said that the idea of including a clause giving consent for eye donation in the event of an accidental death, while issuing the driving licence, was also being pursued so that more eyes would be available for donation.
At present, there was a serious shortage of corneas for transplant, though thousands were pledging their eyes. This was because there was no mandatory clause that corneas be harvested following the death of a person.
G.V. Rao, a senior ophthalmologist, said that most vision problems in schoolchildren went undetected. All schools should be equipped with the basic apparatus for testing vision and frequent eye-testing camps should be held. The facilities had been implemented in some government schools as part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, but private schools were yet to accept the project, he added.
Over 700 ophthalmologists from across the country are participating in the conference.
