Efforts Underway To Clear Backlog Of Corneal Blindness In Punjab: Vini Mahajan

Chandigarh, April 8, 2016: A follow up meeting to review the progress made in last six months to clear the backlog of corneal blindness was held under Chairpersonship of Principal Secretary Health Mrs.Vini Mahajan.
Dr.Radhika Tandon Prof of Ophthalmology RP Centre, AIIMS New Delhi, Senior Officials of Health and Medical Education Department and In charge of most of the Eye Banks of Punjab and Chandigarh UT were present.
Addressing the meeting Ms. Mahajan said that earlier about 1000 Eye balls were being retrieved and 500 corneal transplant Surgeries (Keratoplasties) were being performed every year in Punjab. There is an improvement in the eye balls collection and keratoplasties performed in Punjab compared to previous years. But the need is for procuring at least double the number of corneas and conducting twice the number of Corneal Transplant Surgeries. The endeavor of Punjab government is to upgrade the infrastructure of eye banks and capacity building of Ophthalmologists to achieve the target in a time bound manner.
She further said that an awareness campaign to prevent needless corneal blindness has been launched effectively and up scaling of infrastructure and other supportive measures are being taken by the Punjab government. She laid emphasis on strengthening the Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme in big hospitals to procure more good optical quality corneas.
Dr. Radhika Tandon, Prof. of Ophthalmology, RP Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi applauded the efforts made by the Health and Medical Education & Research Departments of Punjab Govt. She said that there is an exemplary coordination between the departments and all eye banks. The kind of leadership provided by the administrators and NPCB Punjab needs to be emulated by all the states. She presented the history of eye banking in India and the present scenario of corneal blindness in the country. She advocated the qualitative work in corneal surgeries to deliver best results.
She emphasized that a database needs to be prepared for treatable corneal blind persons for which NOTTO has prepared software and it will be piloted in Punjab.
Dr.H.S.Bali, DHS Punjab told about the measures already undertaken by the Govt to popularize Eye donation including pledging of eyes at the time of DL applications.
Ms. Anita Punj AIG told that all the district officials of the Police Department have been directed to facilitate eye donation in medico legal cases before post-mortem.
Mr.Hussan Lal, Secretary Medical Education and research told that the provisions in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA) and the rules have been adopted by the Punjab Govt. with state specific amends. He assured that the charges for registration for eye banks and keratoplasty centres will be reduced so that more keratoplasty centres are established and more cornea transplant can be performed.
State Programme Officer NPCB Punjab-Dr. Rakesh Gupta enumerated the steps taken at state and district level by department of health and family welfare, Dr. Majit Mohi, DRME highlighted the efforts made in this direction by her department. She assured that registration of eye banks/keratoplasty centres will be done in a time bound manner.
In charge of the various eye banks and NGOs active in eye donation gave suggestions to improve the procurement of corneas and increasing the cornea transplantation