Any road you take in any city in India in any time of a day, you come across one or many persons holding white canes and making a way out in the crowded road. It is not just a visually impaired you will come cross; deaf, dumb, crippled and sick people also. Are they on the roads just to get sympathy and their defects are incurable? NO! It is because they are living in an insensitive society. I remember an incident which occurred a few years ago in Mumbai. When an Income Tax office was shifted from ground floor to second floor of a building with no lift facility, a visually impaired with knee problems wrote a letter explaining how the govt. was also required to be sensitive.
We come across, though not frequently news items of celebrities to ordinary persons and accident victims donating their organs. Any idea why they are doing this? It is the concern of at least a few shown on their less fortunate fellow beings. We read news items on heart, kidneys, liver, and eyes transplantations. How much happy the recipients are on successful transplantations! If donation of organs happens as a social agenda, our country will be a better place to live. Why people hesitate to donate their organs? Reasons are many; ignorance, attitude, insensitive to social obligations, non-cooperation of relatives of deceased persons, unknown fear, low confidence on hospital staff, etc. Leave all these doubts aside. Just a moment imagine the happiness on the face of a person who has been able to walk, hear, see, breath on being a beneficiary of organ transplantation. Who benefits if organs are buried or burnt? NONE. Has anyone seen people coming out of the burial grounds with happiness on their faces? NONE.
In the eye front alone, over 2 lakh people are waiting for eye transplantation in our country. Approximately 20,000 people go corneal blind every year. 60% of corneal blind are below 12 years of age (another 70 years of their active age they are left to live without sight) and 90% of corneal blind are below 45 years of age. If we are sensitive enough to the problems, we can change this horrible situation. WE CAN DO IT NOW. Srilanka, almost size of an Indian state is exporting donated eyes! With more than 1 billion. Population we have an ironical situation of huge number of curable visually impaired people. Srilanka has declared eyes as National Assets. Till death, a Srilankan uses his eyes. The moment he dies, his eyes become the asset of nation and removed for transplantation or safe keeping. In our country annually only 25000 transplantations take place. Why should not we change this sad situation?
Why not take this as a challenge? Can’t we motivate people to donate eyes for a good cause?
This is what exactly SAKSHAMA is doing. To retrieve our society from this sad situation, SAKSHAMA, a voluntary organisation dedicated for the empowerment of specially abled people working across the country. Team Sakshama comprises qualified surgeons, physicians, software engineers, bankers, advocates, Teachers etc are working fully on voluntary basis.
Sakshama is working in various fields such as Education, Health, Employability, Cultural, Sport, leprosy care, organ donation etc. The organisation is running around 31 cornea collection centres & eye banks across the India. Cornea blindness can be cured provided donation, removal of cornea immediately or within 6 hours of death, an eye surgeon and transplantation. A person may intend to donate his eyes, but on his death, his or her relatives should carry out the dead person’s declaration. This does not cost anybody. Two eyes of a person give sight to two people. So, declare to donate your eyes TODAY. With a resolve to cure the curable blindness, SAKSHAMA has taken up nation-wide campaign called CAMBA- Cornea Andhatva Mukt Bharat Abhiyan. As a first step, across the country from remote villages to metropolitan cities, from 25th August 2016 to 8th September celebrating “National eye donation fortnight” & creating awareness among people on the importance of eye donation. SAKSHAMA is in the process of tying with technicians, eye surgeons, laboratories and eye hospitals covering major portion of the country. What you can do? First you can be part of the team to work in the campaign fortnight. Second, speak to your friends, family members, colleagues, neighbours on the importance of eye donation. Third, enroll people for eye donation. Fourth, contribute liberally for it requires funds for restoring sight.
As sight ambassadors we must aware of these facts; The relatives should close the eyes of the deceased person; Keep dead person’s head a little raised; put off fans and AC systems; inform nearest govt. or private eye banks or call 104. There is no religious stigma of any kind on eye donation. No religion prohibits eye and any organ donation. The dead person will be able to see the world through TWO living persons. SO, donate today. It is time for ALL to join the noble cause with SAKSHAMA. Service gives you happiness which money, power, modern amenities cannot. Service is the greatest meditation.
Sri. C S Vijaykumar
Rtd. Vice-president, Corporate credit, ING Vysya Bank,
Bengaluru.
