Chandigarh, 26 August 2012 (BharatSandesh News): A special meeting to review the progress of Punjab under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) during the first Quarter of Financial year 2012-12 was held under the Chairpersonship of Mrs. Vini Mahajan – Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Punjab. Sh Raj Kamal Chaudhary, Mission Director (NRHM), Punjab and Dr. Karanjit Singh Director Family Welfare, Punjab was present in the meeting.
Mrs Vini Mahajan informed that 44,000 cataract surgeries have been performed and 600 children have been given free spectacles during the above period. She added that there were 10 approved eye banks and 10 eye donation centres across Punjab. During the previous year 316 eye balls were procured by eye banks of Punjab. She stated that efforts were being made to provide state-of-the-art equipments in all Government hospitals of Punjab. She made an appeal to the people to come forward and pledge their eyes for donation after demise, so that corneal blindness of someone else could be treated.
Sh Raj Kamal Chaudhary informed that Eye Donation Fortnight is being observed from 25th August to 8th September 2012, in the state to give a boost to the Eye Donation campaign as well as to create awareness among the people about the preventive aspects of corneal blindness. He also told that there are approximately 0.12 million corneal blind persons in the country and many other with visual impairment due to corneal diseases and about 20,000 new cases are added every year. Majority of such blind persons are young and their sight could be restored only by a corneal transplantation.
