Mahatma’s land leads in eye donation again

RAJKOT: Once again, this quaint coastal district has shown the way in eradicating blindness.
The birth place of Mahatma Gandhi has pipped all districts in collecting eye balls through donation. According to the latest data of National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB), as many as 646 eyes were collected in Porbandar district as against the target of just 40 in 2014-15.
The over-achievement is significant given the size of the district – there are only three talukas in Porbandar namely Porbandar, Ranavav and Kutiyana.These three make up for 150 villages.
On the other hand, Ahmedabad, which has 14 talukas and 556 villages, fell 316 short of its set target of 2,625 eyes.
Gujarat has already surpassed Tamil Nadu by collecting 9,830 eyeballs as against the target of 4,000 in 2014-15.

Doctors and volunteers engaged in the eye donation awareness in Porbandar attribute the success to a sustained campaign, cutting across castes and religion.
Dr Nitin Popat, who spearheads the campaign, said, “Our volunteers are very prompt in attending to calls from people who are willing to donate eyes of their relatives. Such people normally take the decision within minutes in very difficult frame of mind when their near ones are dead. We are indebted to them.”
The volunteers of Porbandar Nature Club have toiled hard to change peoples’ perception about eye donation. ‘We promptly reach post-mortem rooms in cases of accidents or cremation grounds to convince people. Initially, it was difficult to talk to the deceased’s relatives but now people have became aware, which is why we achieved this success.”