A banner at a crematorium. Picture by Eastern Projections

Sept. 28: The Kamrup Metropolitan District Blindness Control Society has selected crematoriums, cemeteries and burial grounds as new platforms to successfully implement its eye donation campaign.

Kumud Lal Saikia, the district programme officer of the society, said the organisation has already put up banners at Nabagraha and Bhootnath crematoriums in the city to motivate people for eye donation without any superstitions and prejudices.

Such banners have also been installed at Guwahati Kabarasthan, the city’s oldest graveyard for Muslims.

“We will soon cover the cemetery in the city to motivate the Christian community to donate their eyes. It has been found that family members of the donors failed to donate the corneas after their demise because of beliefs and prejudices. This has caused a severe setback to the blindness eradication drive. With the help of religious leaders we are hopeful to convince people to donate their eyes without prejudices and superstitions to make their lives immortal even after deaths,” Saikia said.

According to Saikia, such an initiative is already prevalent in the western countries where counsellors are engaged to pursue the grief-stricken family members to donate eyes of the deceased even at the burial grounds. He said the district blindness control society would also engage counsellors at the crematoriums and graveyards in the city to convince the deceased’s relatives for eye donation.

“If the relatives agree we will send a team of doctors to crematoriums and graveyards for the surgery, which would take about 20 to 25 minutes,” the officer said.

According to the National Programme for Control of Blindness, one of out of every 20 children in Assam is suffering from eye ailments. A survey conducted by the city-based Society for Promotion of School Health has found that among other diseases, 29 per cent of students suffer from eye problems in Guwahati.

The society has also appointed counsellors and members of NGOs in all 60 wards of the city to motivate the residents to donate their eyes.

Saikia said the eye donation fortnight organised last month was a success and people have responded positively to the eye donation drive.

“We are targeting total eradication of incidence of blindness in Kamrup (metro) district. Eye screening camps are being organised at schools. Spectacles will be given to students freely,” he said.