Jamshedpur: Taboos and social stigma still holds back many, even from urban educated families, to pledge organs, including eyes, say ophthalmologists.Senior ophthalmologist and head of Jamshedpur Eye Hospital Dr SP Jakhanwal said, “Only four to five eye donors are available in Jamshedpur every year as against the around 10,000 deaths recorded in one govt hospital in the city. Hardly few come forward to pledge eyes though the city has around 83% literacy rate.”“August 25 to September 8 is being observed as the National Eye Donation Fortnight on the theme, ‘Everyday Heroes’. But hardly any person has come forward to pledge their eyes. A belief exists in the society that if a person donates an eye, he/she will be born blind in the next birth. These myths still prevail in the minds of educated and affluent people here.”Ophthalmologist Dr Poonam Rawat said, “Jharkhand had only two eye banks, both in Ranchi. One is run by the govt and another by a private organisation. Banks could not be opened in other cities as experts did not find it feasible owing to the very low number of cornea donations here.”Ophthalmologist Dr Neha Shivam Madan said, “Cornea donors can be anyone from one year old and above. People suffering from high or low blood pressure, diabetes or any other disease and those infected by HIV, can donate eyes.”Dr Madan said, “The relatives of the deceased, who have pledged their eyes before death, must immediately inform the persons concerned of the nearest eye centre or bank about the death, as the cornea must be extracted by experts within 6 hours from time of death.”She added, “With the advancement of medical science, now each pair of eye donations can remove the blindness of six people. In industrial city like Jamshedpur many times people damage their eyes while working in factories. Such eye injuries require cornea transplant to avoid blindness.”
