The Ramayamma International Eye Bank at the L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, is holding an eye donation fortnight from August 25 to September 8 with the purpose of increasing public awareness on eye donation, its methods and benefits.

As part of the campaign, RIEB will depute counsellors to all the major hospitals in the city like Apollo, Medwin and Osmania to disseminate information about eye donation. Pamphlets with details on the formalities and requirements for being a donor will also be distributed throughout the fortnight.

Almost two million Indians are affected by corneal blindness and a significant number of them are children. A corneal blind can gain vision only when a healthy cornea received from a deceased donor replaces the damaged cornea. Corneas are not commercially available and, therefore, an eye donation made by a deceased can help restore sight for the corneally blind.

According to Sam Balasundaram of the LVPEI, " The stigma attached to the eye donation is because of the myth that the deceased individual may get disfigured in the process. But this is untrue as the procedure only involves removing or harvesting the cornea which is a thin transparent layer in front of the iris." In fact, persons of any age, spectacle wearers and even patients with diabetes or hypertension can pledge their eyes for donation.

The decision to donate the eyes can also be taken by the family members at the time of demise.