Eyes are a very valuable part of a human being. They are God’s precious gift to a person. But the same eyes bring misery when misused or when they are lost. A wise man utilises that gift while alive and in death too. Donation of the eyes gives sight to two corneally blind persons, enabling them to come out of their dark and dreamy life into a life full of colours, a life where they can see and enjoy this beautiful world.
There is no substitute for human tissue. The transplantation process depends upon the priceless gift of cornea donation from one human to the next. The use of artificial tissue for transplantation has been unsuccessful.
We know that we are not going to live permanently but after our death, let our eyes live in this world by giving a new life to blind.
Age does not matter while making this precious donation. It is one great valuable service a person can do in his/her life. All one needs to do is bequeath his or her eyes by taking a simple pledge to donate the eyes after death. It requires the support of the relatives or friends to carry out the wishes of eye donation of the deceased. They need to call up the Eye Bank immediately as the eyes need to be removed within a maximum of six hours of death.
After making the call they should keep both eyes of the beloved deceased closed and cover with moist cotton and switch off the ceiling fan. People using spectacles and having diabetes and hypertension can also make eye donations. However, people with death due to infections caused by rabies, syphilis, hepatitis, septicemia and AIDS cannot be donors.
Eyes can be donated to any eye bank in India but preferably to the nearest eye bank to avoid delays. As per the new procedures, only cornea portion is removed and hence face disfigurement does not happen. Immediate family members can donate the eyes of the deceased even if the deceased had not pledged for eye donation during his/her lifetime. Please come forward and pledge your eyes to fill colours in someone’s dark world.
