Hyderabad, September 08: Nearly 1,000 villagers, young and old alike, today pledged to donate their eyes, during a programme organised at a government hospital here.
These villagers from Devunieravalli in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh filled the required forms and submitted them to T L Kapadia Eye Bank at the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital in Mehdipatnam here.
"As part of the programme, over 1,000 people today came at the hospital and submitted the forms," a doctor associated with the eye donation event said. "It's for the first time that we have seen so many people turning up for eye donation. They have come forward voluntarily to donate their eyes after their demise. This (decision on donating eyes) will send a good message," Dr Ravinder Goud told PTI.
"Till now people from cities and towns used to participate in eye donation activities, but the awareness on the importance of donating eyes is spreading in rural areas also," Goud, who has been organising programmes on creating awareness on eye-donation, said.
In Hyderabad district alone, around 1,000 people donated their eyes during 2009-10. This number is likely to go up in 2010-11, the doctor said. "We expect more people to come forward to donate their eyes in the coming years," Goud said.
-PTI
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