In order to make amends to its dismal performance in promoting eye donation in the state, the Kerala State Health Department has formed the Kerala Blindness Control Society in the lines of similar organizations in other states like Tamilnadu Blindness Control Society.

The society, registered two weeks ago, will co-ordinate all the eye donation campaigns in the state, and will act as the apex organisation for the13 private and public sector eye banks in the state. Further, the organisation will explore the possibilities of opening new eye banks in various district and taluk hospitals, said state health ministry sources. At present, except for the Kollam and Pathanamthitta district hospitals, no other district or taluk hospitals in the state have eye banks.

The Kerala Government is also planning to reorganize and activate the accreditation committee for eye banks, now almost defunct for the past few months due to various reasons. The accreditation committee is entrusted with the task of quality assurance at the eye banks. It has power to give accreditation to the eye banks by monitoring the eye storage facilities and infrastructure at the eye banks, besides recommending various areas of improvement to the state health ministry. However, this five-member committee has not been convened for the last few months as four members of this committee are from outside Kerala, say sources.

Sources say that lack of co-ordination and lethargy on the part of the Government officials have been the cause of dismal performance of the Government run eye banks in the state. In the last year, out of 936 pair of eyes collected and operated by the eye banks in Kerala, the half a dozen eye banks attached to the Government hospitals could contribute only about 15%, that is 152 pairs of eyes. These are Regional Institute of Ophthalmology attached to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College - 59, Eye banks at Trichur Medical College -56. Kozhikkode Medical College - 16, Kottayam Medical College - 12, Pathanamthitta General hospital & Kollam District Hospital - 9.

In contrast to this, the seven private sector eye banks in the state received 784 pairs of eyes during the period, with the eye bank at the super specialty Angamali Little Flower hospital contributing to 629 pairs of eyes, followed by the Trichur Jubilee Hospital with 89 pairs of eyes.