Eye donation awareness campaign at UIAMS premises

Chandigarh, September 9, 2019: University Institute of Applied Management Sciences(UIAMS), Panjab University, in association with NSS unit of Panjab University, under the guidance of program officers Dr.Manjushri Sharma, Dr.Anupreet Kaur Mavi, Dr.Ikreet Bal, and Dr. Vijayta Chadda, organized an Eye Donation Awareness campaign at UIAMS premises, as a part of National Eye donation fortnight being celebrated from 25th of August to 8th of September.
This campaign aims to create mass public awareness about the importance of eye donation and to motivate people to pledge their eyes for donation after their demise. Professor Upasana Joshi Sethi, Director, UIAMS, welcomed the speakers and the guests for the session.
Professor Navdeep Sharma, NSS coordinator, Panjab University, addressed the students and motivated the NSS volunteers and students of UIAMS to be a part of this noble drive.
The awareness session was held in collaboration with a team of doctors from Advanced Eye Care Centre, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. Dr.Gaurav Gupta, Cornea Specialist at PGIMER, gave a presentation on the facts and myths surrounding the concept of eye donation. He highlighted that India is having one fourth of world’s blind population, with corneal blindness as one of the major reasons. Still, our country is at the bottom when it comes to availability of donor eyes. This calls for an urgent and intensive drive to spread the awareness about eye donation as one of the foremost humanitarian task for all individuals.
Dr.Atul Gautam, Manager, Eye Bank at PGIMER, informed the students about the standard operating procedure followed for the processes involved in eye donation, right from filling a pledge card for donation to counseling of family members at the time of harvesting the donor eyes.
Four faculty members and 15 students pledged their eyes for donation after the session.