(a) the number of corneas needed for the operation of the eyes in the country;
(b) the number of corneas available in the country at present;
(c) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to meet this shortage;
(d) the reasons for the shortage thereof; and
(e) the number of corneas received in donation, State-wise since the year 2000 till date?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI A. RAJA)
(a)&(b): About one lakh corneas are needed every year for
the eye operations in the country. Against the
requirement, about 20,000 corneas are being collected every
year by various eye banks in the country.
(c): Annual Eye Donation Fortnight from 25th August to 8th
September and Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programs are being
organized to motivate the people for donating the eyes.
(d): The reasons for shortage of donated corneas are:
1. Inadequate number of functional eye banks
2. Low rate of donated eyes due to social reasons.
3. Need for collection of donated eyes within 6 hours of death.
S.No. State/UT 2000 2001 2002 Provisional
1 ANDHRA PRADESH 1306 1575 123 2 ANDAMAN &NICOBAR 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 4 ASSAM 0 12 4 5 BIHAR 17 21 18 6 CHANDIGARH 246 264 44 7 CHATTISGARH 8 DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI 0 9 DAMAN & DIU 10 DELHI 1040 1220 81 11 GOA 12 GUJARAT 6078 5076 415 13 HARYANA 168 145 18 14 HIMACHAL PRADESH 15 JAMMU & KASHMIR 16 JHARKHAND 17 KARNATAKA 874 1029 126 18 KERALA 264 430 291 19 LAKSHWEEP 20 MADHYA PRADESH 408 233 86 21 MAHARASHTRA 3628 3962 634 22 MANIPUR 23 MEGHALAYA 24 MIZORAM 25 NAGALAND 26 ORISSA 0 0 27 PONDICHERRY 71 92 12 28 PUNJAB 209 280 71 29. RAJASTHAN 218 190 112 30 SIKKIM 31 TAMIL NADU 3359 4440 1186 32 TRIPURA 33 UTTAR PRADESH 224 310 18 34 UTTARANCHAL 35 WEST BENGAL 531 615 85
TOTAL 18641 19894 3324