Dr Harsh Vardhan addresses 35th National Eye Donation fortnight celebrations

New Delhi - Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed the 35th National Eye Donation fortnight celebrations and presided over the interactive webinar organised by AIIMS, New Delhi and the National Eye bank.

Reminding everyone that the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey 2019, jointly conducted by AIIMS (Delhi) and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported that corneal blindness was the leading cause of blindness among patients aged less than 50 years in India, accounting for 37.5% of the cases and was the second leading cause of blindness among patients above the age of 50 years, he said, "Corneal blindness is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. World Health Organization (WHO) reports estimate that approximately 5% of the world's population is blind due to corneal diseases alone. In India, approximately 68 lakh people suffer from corneal blindness in at least one eye; of these, 10 lakh people are blind in both their eyes."

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Since the only known treatment to corneal blindness is corneal transplant, he urged those present to increase awareness to fill the demand and supply gap of corneal tissue. Speaking on the shortfall of donations in recent months due to the COVID pandemic and associated fear, he remarked, "the eye-banking system has been one of its worst victims among the routine non-emergency medical activities that have borne the brunt of this pandemic.The eye-banking guidelines of various countries, including India, advised temporary suspension of donor cornea retrieval and elective corneal transplantation surgeries when active lockdown measures were being implemented. This led to almost negligible cornea retrieval in April-May with more than 90% fall in corneal transplant surgeries." He reiterated the advice of the medical community that it is highly unlikely for the virus to be transmitted via donor corneas.