Former national president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) G. Samaram on Saturday said the Government must dedicate a decade for the noble cause of eye donation.
Addressing a meeting organised to mark valediction of a fortnight-long eye donation awareness campaign kicked-off by Swetcha Gora Eye Bank, Dr. Samaram said an ‘Eye Donation Decade’ was essential to address the problem of corneal blindness.
Dr. Samaram, who is also the Executive Director of Swetcha Gora Eye Bank, suggested promulgation of a law to allow removal of eyeballs of road accident victims who die in hospitals for transplantation. He said an aggressive campaign was needed on the lines of blood donation campaigns to drive home the point. IMA president for Vijayawada unit L. Subbarao complimented the committed efforts of Swetcha Gora Eye Bank in educating people on the need to donate eyes.
Krishna District Blindness Control Society Programme Officer P. Prabhakar Sastry said in recognition of the humane gesture of donors, the Society had been paying a sum of Rs. 1,500 to individuals donating their eyes. He assured all help from the Society to promote the noble cause.
Prizes were given to winners of essay writing, painting contest, quiz and singing competition, organised for school and college students by the eye bank as part of the drive.
In essay writing for school students, S. Vaishnavi Sudha and M. Momina of Nirmala High School bagged first prizes, V.K. Pravallika of Nirmala High School and P. Vennela of V.P.S. Public School shared the second prize while S. Sravya of KBC ZP High School and M. Suryasri of Nirmala High School got third prizes. Among college students, B. Revathi and Harshita Rupa of Maris Stella College secured first prize, K. Divya (Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala) and M. Deva Kumari (Maris Stella) got second prize and P. Umamaheswara Rao and Sterlin Thomas of Andhra Loyola College got third prizes. In drawing and painting (Juniors), N. Jay Vinay (Nirmala High School), K. Havil (Bishop Azaraiah) and M. Ragini (Nirmala High School) came first, second and third respectively. Among seniors, Ch. Tejasvi (VPS Public School), G. Baby Parimala (Bishop Azaraiah) and A. Lasya (Nirmala High School) bagged first, second and third prizes respectively.
Among college students, S. Himabindu (Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala) bagged first prize. In quiz, girls of Nirmala High School lifted the shield as winners and participants of Vasavya MPHW emerged runners-up. In singing (solo), D. Vaishnavi (KCP Siddhartha Adarsh), Lakshmi Bharat (Andhra Loyola College) and Pavani Priya (Nirmala High School) came first, second and third respectively while in group singing, students of Bishop Azaraiah High School, Nirmala High School and KCP Siddhartha Adarsh got first, second and third prizes.
Former MP and president of Vasavya Mahila Mandali Chennupati Vidya, secretary G. Rashmi and others were present.
