For Your Eyes Only! SKOC to Organize ‘Eye Donation Awareness Fortnight’ 25 Aug-8 Sept
Mangaluru: Addressing the media persons during a press meet held at Mangalore Press Club, Dr Sudhir Hegde-President of South Kanara Ophthalmic Society said, “Our is an Association of all ophthalmologists in and around Dakshina Kannada District. We at SKOS strive to achieve unity and excellence in the field of Ophthalmology. The society has been active and has been organizing a lot of academic sessions for promoting skill and excellence in the field of ophthalmic surgery. The society is observing ‘The Eye Donation Awareness Fortnight’ from 25th August to 8th September 2018. As a part of this programme, we are holding The gift of sight 5K Run and 2K Walk on 2nd September 2018. The event will start at Mangaluru City Corporation and will culminate at Nehru Maidan. The society has been supported in this event by Rotary International, Round Table, Samvitti Capital, Bharat Motors, Abharan Jewellers, Marian Builders, Citadel Developers and Zeusse Gym”.
Dr Hegde further said, “The society has involved all Medical Colleges in Dakshina Kannada District and aims at strengthening the Eye Bank Network in our district. The society has also launched a unique awareness mobile led wall mounted vehicle, which will travel all over Dakshina Kannada District during the specified time and will play videos about donation and it’s necessity. According to the World Health Organization, corneal diseases are among the major causes of vision loss and blindness in the world today, after cataract and glaucoma. In India, it is estimated that there are approximately 6.8 million people who have blindness in at least one eye due to corneal diseases. Of these, about a million have bilateral involvement. It is expected that the number of individuals with unilateral corneal blindness in India will increase to 10.6 million by 2020”.
“To reduce this burden, we have to raise the target for the number of eye donations in the country to arrange and organize for donor corneas. The only way to increase the number of eye donation is creating awareness among the general public to donate eyes and give the gift of sight to two deserving corneal blind people. Our initiative is to create awareness and educate people about the facts about eye donation and debunk all the myths regarding the same” concluded Dr Sudhir Hegde.
Dr Ajay A Kudav- Secretary of SKOS and Shivaprasad Shetty, the media coordinator were present on the dais during the press meet.
