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General Forum: Hyderabad | | Social Work: Meeting in TeluguPeople.com at 4 pm on 3rd July | |
| Hello Friends,
Good Morning. Aug 28th to Sept 8th is celebrated as 'Eye Donation Week'. So those who are interested to donate their eyes, join hands with me. Register yourself as donors before Sep 8th and mention ur names here. This is not for publicity but just to assess how many of us can come forward to support the causes and also to inspire others.
Ramayamma International Eye Bank
LV Prasad Eye Institute, LV Prasad Marg,
Banjara Hills, Hyd - 34.
Contact 24 hours:
Phone : 1919 (Toll Free); 2354 8266 (Direct)
2354 8267 / 2360 8262
Fax: 2354 8271
Mobile: 98495-45822
Website: lvpei.org
Email: rieb@lvpei.org
Thank you.
You can ring to them and mention your address so that they will send the form to you. You have to just fill it and send them back either thru post or in person. Then they will give you the Donor Card.
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 19, Jul 2005 12:20:52 PM IST
Sneha garu,
Nice to know that you already donated your eyes. I do not know about Chiranjeevi Eye Bank.
Honestly speaking, I am also of superstition or unknown fear, whatever we call that, like I will be born blind in the next birth if I donate the eyes :)
My grandfather's (Maternal uncle of my father) eyes were donated. I was there when Sukumar garu came and was taking the eyes. But due to fear I stayed inside. It was at late night.
Then he came inside and took the medical history of my grandfather by asking few questions. After that my uncle introduced me to him. Then he asked me if I write poems. (The thing is he happened to participate in two Kavi Sammelans in Nellore where I too recited mine). He then appreciated me for my poems and asked me to write a poem on Eye Donation and spread the word. I said ok. But how can I write without knowing anything about it or without a feel and an urge. But it was there in my mind that I have given word to him but I couldn't do anything.
Later when MAD concept came to my mind, I thought of collecting details and campaign for this cause. I rang to my uncle for Sukumar gari number but I couldn't catch him on phone.
So when I went to Nellore in May I asked Sri Perugu Ramakrishna about Sukumar garu. Somehow it happened as such like he could ring to me the day I am leaving for hyderabad. Anyhow he came to my house in the evening and explained to me and gave a pamplet and his poetry book.
When I came to know about his activities and all (I didn't write it here because it takes much time. I will definitely share in the coming days), I am really inspired. Then I thought like 'Yes. I too should donate my eyes'. It was all due to him.
Ofcourse he works for the cause of blood donation too. So far he donated blood 45 times. But I fear injection and doctors :) So I will be just a listener when it comes to blood donation. Even for organ donation I do not come forward for this reason only. I do not know my blood group so far. For my ID card I asked the receptionist in my office to fill whatever group she feels like. I know its wrong but my fear is as such :)
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 9, Jul 2005 10:29:40 PM IST
Oops well .> I was talkign about Organ Donation .. not just eye donation .. okay Gotcha now!
Posted by: Malakpet Rowdy At: 9, Jul 2005 3:35:57 PM IST
Malakji,
We rang and found that Mohan Foundation do not deal with eye donation. They suggested to contact LV Prasad Eye Institute only. We rang to them earlier. They said they will send the forms to our office. Today when we rang they said that they will refer and then send if they are not posted yet.
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 9, Jul 2005 9:59:11 AM IST
Hello Malakji,
Good Morning. There is no plan as of now. I am asking for suggestions and guidance on how to do it. I have no problem to work with SHiFT. Tomorrow I will contact Ratan. Yesterday we rang to Mohan Foundation and as the concerned person is in meeting, we couldn't contact. Today we will try again.
By the way, as of now, I can only think of 'Eye Donation'. I wish to know the details about other organs too and then take a decision about them.
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 9, Jul 2005 9:36:24 AM IST
Thats good info Prashanti. Regarding Organ donation, are you guys planning to work with SHiFT or going on your own?
Posted by: Malakpet Rowdy At: 9, Jul 2005 0:23:00 AM IST
Hello Friends,
I just documented the notes which I prepared while listening to Sukumar garu. If u notice any mistakes, they are due to me. Please go through them and point out the mistakes. I will correct and then post it as article and upload to the file section of the MAD group.
Forgive me for not posting the profile of Sukumar garu. His services are remarkable and I can't put them in few lines. I will get a detailed profile of him and post.
There are few documents that need to be scanned. I hope I can do this sunday.
==========================================
Topic: Eye Donation
Minutes of the meeting
4:30 pm : The meeting was started. Ms. Prasanthi introduced Sukumar Reddy garu to the participants
4:40 pm: Sukumar Reddy garu beautifully explained the details regarding the structure of the eye, then about the evolution of the cornea transplantation, then about various religions and views, mythological stories, who are eligible and who are not, unique features of eye donation, the present scenario and the present demand
6:15 pm: He invited questions from the participants
6:30 pm: He answered the questions with respect to eye donation
6:40 pm: Participants asked about his inspiration and he shared the experiences
7:00 pm: The meeting concluded with the Vote of Thanks by Ms. Prasanthi
Details of the speech
To donate the eyes, the important criteria is to have the permission of the heirs or relatives. If the heirs are interested, membership is not required to donate the eyes. Eye transplantation that we talk about is actually the transplantation of the cornea. In medical terminology, this process is called Caratoplasty.
Brief Description of the Eye:
Cornea is not black or blue or brown in colour as we suppose. It is like the glass on the watch which reflects the colour of the dial.
It is the place where we touch the eye. Touching the cornea is the eyeball. Lens lies behind the eyeball. There are optic nerves at the back of the lens connecting to the brain.
If the problem is with the lens, cateract operation is required.
If the cornea works well, one can donate the eyes. Even if one cannot see, one can still donate the eye.
Due to malnutrition or any accidents to the eye, cornea may not function well.
Evolution of the Eye Donation:
In 1771 - A French Eye Specialist Pelliar De Quency first thought of replacing cornea with a transparent layer
In 1813 - Dr. Hemli thought of changing cornea
In 1818 - Dr. Fran Risinger thought of transplanting cornea
In 1831 - Dr. Diphan Bache attempted the transplantation but with a failure
Between 1837and 1850 a series of experiments were carried out to replace human cornea with animals' cornea and ofcourse with drastic defects
Between 1853 to 1862, a glass layer is used to replace the cornea
In 1872, Dr. Hover revived hope with his experiments on both animals and humans.
Atlast in 1888, Dr. Van Hippel, was successful in transplanting the cornea
In 1906, Dr. Girm developed the procedure and suggested the precautions too
Between 1914 to 1930, Dr. Eltsing became famous for Cornea Transplantation operations
In 1930, Dr. Tudor Thomas revolutionised this process in UK
In 1945, Dr. R. T. Pato, for the first time, established an eye bank in New York. A noble woman, Aidadi Acosta Brekinridge, who was a renowned social worker, supported him in this effort.
In 1962, an eyebank is established in Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, Hyderabad.
As of now there are 120 to 125 eye banks all over India but only 20 to 25 are working well.
LV Prasad Eye Institute also runs an eye bank
Success Story of Srilanka
Govt. has a proposal to establish eye banks in all medical colleges.
Srilanka tops the world in eye donation. The credit goes to the diligent efforts of Dr. Hudson Silva who cleverly campaigned the cause citing an example of eye donation in one of the Jataka Stories of Buddhism. Bodhisatva donated his eyes in one of the jataka stories and Dr. Silva publicised this story to motivate people to donate eyes. Srilankan govt. also backed his mission by providing free transport to the people who carries the donated cornea.
Now Srilanka donates the eyes to other countries also.
In India, Ahmedabad stands first in eye donation.
Medical Details
Under any climatic conditions, eyes retain life upto 6 hours after the death. So they should be stored in the ice box.
In general, it is good to transplant the cornea within 24 hours of taking it out from the deadbody. There are incidents that they are stored upto 3 days also.
The cornea can be used in 4 different ways based on its health.
The cornea which is working very well is used for the transplantation
Cornea of second grade is transplanted to the persons who are ailing with corneal ulcers. Once the ulcer gets cured, well working cornea will be transplanted by replacing the second grade cornea.
Cornea of third grade is used for experiments in medical colleges.
Cornea of fourth grade is used as teaching aid in the classroom.
Operation
It takes 20 to 30 minutes to take the eye ball. Any person with considerable training can take the cornea with the eyeball. To take only cornea, sophistication is required and so specialist doctors only can do such operations.
Mischief
Though we cannot value the eye, the market rate for it is Rs. 1, 60, 000. Rajasthan is notorious for such illegal practises in India.
Uniqueness of Eye Transplantation
Cornea of an old man can be given to a child and viceversa. Similarly cornea of right eye be transplanted in left eye and the cornea of a woman can be transplanted to men.
Blood group need not match. Ditto with age, gender and position (left or right)
The following are the diseases that makes one ineligible to donate eyes:
1) Jaundice (Hepatitis A to G)
2) Blood Cancer (Doctors contradict with respect to Cancer)
3) Leprosy. If one is a leper and have some blemishes at the time of the death. Even though the leprosy is cured, such persons are not eligible.
4) AIDS
5) Glacoma, an eye disease
6) The death is caused due to drowning. Though medically useful, due to legal reasons, we cannot take the cornea in time.
Two reasons: a) The exact time of death is not known.
b) A postmortem is required in drowning cases
7) Death caused due to burns
8) Dog/Scorpion/Snake bites. But the cornea can be used as a teaching aid.
Faqs
1) Can a transplanted cornea be useful again?
No. The reason is the cornea is stitched and so a small portion of it will be consumed along the circular edge. If we need to transplant it again, doctors has to cut those invisible stitches and then they need to stitch. So the circumference of the cornea is not big enough to be transplanted again.
2) Do we need to pay anything for the cornea?
No. Cornea is absolutely free. It is a crime if anyone demands any money for it. The cornea is given voluntarily for the satisfaction of the deceased, who can see the world even after the death.
Need for a campaign for this cause
A magazine editor in nellore district was full of surprise after helping Sri Sukumar Reddy in taking the cornea from the dead body. Until then he used to think that one has to break open the skull in order to take the cornea. He felt very embarrassed for his opinion and then he realised the need to explain it to the common people. So he published the entire story in the next issue of his magazine explaining the process and discussed the need of eye donation.
The more pitiful fact is even though people are interested to donate the eyes, there are no facilites to take them. There are no eye banks or experienced persons who works for this cause in many districts. As there is a time restriction of 6 hours, it is difficult for the trained persons to reach particular place on time.
Statistics
There are 3 crores of blind people in this world out of which 1 crore are Indians. Out of them, 25 lakhs are facing problems with cornea. Means they can get sight if we have enough eyes in our eye banks.
Only in hyderabad 8000 eyes are required in a year. 4000 donors are needed but there are only 60 donations (120 persons only are benifitted out of 8000 blind people). 1200 members are dying in a year (from all religions). The demand is far higher than the supply.
Need: 8000 corneas Donations: 60 Deaths: 1200
Support of various religions
Hinduism - Supports the cause but people only are clouded with some superstitions (Bhakta Kannappa and Alarka)
Buddhism - Supports the cause (Jataka Stories in Buddhism)
Jainism - Supports the cause
Zorastrians - They just leave the dead bodies naked at some higher place in their burial ground(can we say so as they do not bury?)
for the birds to eat.
Islam - Do not support the cause because muslims give value and utmost respect even to the dead body. But few mullahs do support the cause as it gives a new lease of life to the blind.
Hinduism supports Organ Donation. We can assume this by various incidents depicted in its epics.
Emperor Sibi donated blood and flesh
The Great Warrior, Karna, donated the natural armour and ear rings
Pura, the son of Yayati, gives his youthfulness to his father and get back it after some months
Dadichi donated bones
The King, Mayuradhwaja, donates the southern portion of the body.
Eye Donation Week
The week of Aug 28 to Sep 8, is declared as Eye Donation Week
===========================================
By the way, I wish to campaign for the cause of Eye Donation (thru mails and postings). By Sep 8th, let us see to that 25 to 100 people get registered as Donors.
One of my colleagues is very interested in organ donation. As of now 3 persons (including me) are ready to be registered as donors(eye). I will ask if my parents and brother are also interested.
Come up with your suggestions on how to campaign etc.,
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 9, Jul 2005 0:14:53 AM IST
Hello Friends, the program went on well despite very few attendants. I will share the details by next thursday. Thank you.
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 5, Jul 2005 2:45:09 PM IST
tAtagAru, he is not used to Internet. He will be available on phone (landline). He is an elderly man, may be b/n 50 to 60. He speaks in nellore slang. pAtakAlaM manishulaMta swachChaMgA uMTAyi A mATalu kUDA.
He is a pioneer in motivating people to donate eyes and he is also involved in blood donation service for a long time. So far he has given blood more than 40 times.
With respect to eye donation he implemented many new ideas to register the persons etc., There are many more to his credit.
You do not believe if you see him. He is so simple and very friendly. elAMTi bhEshajaM lEni vyakti. iMkA chAlA viSEshAlu unnAyi. nAku kUDA pUrtigA teliyavu. 'haidarAbAdu vastE tappaka mAtO mI vishayAlu charchiMchaMDi. AdivAramE raMDi' ani aDigitE, alAgE AdivAramE vastunnAru.
Actually I brought few pamplets from him but couldn't post as I didn't find time to type them. I will think of scanning and posting them.
Posted by: Ms. Prasanthi Uppalapati At: 2, Jul 2005 11:05:53 AM IST
prasanthi! What about those who cannot attend personally. Can we have chatting with Mr.Sukumar Reddy though not at 4 PM on 3rd. July, but at a later date and time?
Posted by: Mr. VIRABHADRA SASTRI KALANADHABHATTA At: 2, Jul 2005 10:16:02 AM IST
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