Punjab Government To Clear Backlog Of Corneal Blindness
Author(s): City Air NewsChandigarh, September 30,2 2015: The Punjab Government has chalked out an extensive plan to clear the backlog of corneal blindness in the state .In a major move, a round table consultation was held under the Chairpersonship...
cityairnews
Sep 30, 2015 09:30
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Chandigarh, September 30,2 2015: The Punjab Government has chalked out an extensive plan to clear the backlog of corneal blindness in the state .In a major move, a round table consultation was held under the Chairpersonship of Principal Secretary Health Ms. Vini Mahajan.
Ms. Mahajan said that about 1000 Eye balls were being retrieved and 500 corneal transplant Surgeries (Keratoplasties) were being performed every year in Punjab. But the need was to procure three times more corneas and conducting three times more Corneal Transplant Surgeries, she added. The endeavour of Punjab Government was to ensure that all stakeholders work in a planned and coordinated manner to achieve the target in a time bound manner.
State Programme Officer NPCB (National Programme for Control of Blindness ) Punjab, Dr Rakesh Gupta enumerated the actionable points at the level of Civil Surgeons, Directorate of Medical Education and Research and In-charge of Eye Banks so that backlog of Corneal Blindness in Punjab can be cleared.
Professor of Ophthalmology RP Centre, AIIMS N-Delhi Dr. Radhika Tandon explained that an Action Plan needed to be made for the success of this ambitious project. A database was also required to be prepared for treatable corneal blind persons for whom an online registration performa was already available on official website of Health Department. She said that awareness campaign to prevent needless corneal blindness has to be launched effectively and up scaling of infrastructure and other supportive measures should be taken by the Government of Punjab. She told about the provisions in Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act and the rules framed to implement it. The Punjab Government has to adopt it with state specific amends. She insisting on strengthening the Hospital Corneal Retrieval Programme in big hospitals to procure more eye balls.
Mr. Hussan Lal, Secretary, Medical Education and research assured the participants that necessary amends will be made earnestly before adopting Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. He appreciated the role of NGOs like Eye Donation Association in Punjab in creating awareness about eye donation.
Dr. Bhag Mal, Director Health Services, Punjab told about the measures already undertaken by the Government to popularize eye donation including pledging of eyes at the time of Driving License applications. He appealed to the general public to pledge their eyes for donation after death by registering online at pbhealth.gov.in. He also told that information about nearest eye bank in Punjab is available by calling Toll free number 104.
The participating officials from eye banks participated actively in the discussion. Senior Officials of Health and Medical Education Department and In charge of most of the Eye Banks of Punjab and Chandigarh UT attended the meeting.
Date:
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
