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EYE DONATION - Due to the latest development & technologies, eye donated of a single person can give eyesight back to 2 to 6 persons as different parts of the cornea can be used for different people.

If all of you really want to work in this direction, make sure you do the following 2 things :
Make sure your family members are aware that u are very serious about donation in case of your death and that they should call the nearest eye bank as soon as possible after death. (For India - 1919 from landline, STD CODE+1919 from cellphone).

Cornea is the clear, transparent tissue covering the front of the eye and if it becomes cloudy from disease, injury, infection or malnutrition, vision is dramatically lost or reduced. Corneal blindness can be treated by replacing the damaged cornea by a healthy donated human cornea. The human cornea can be procured through eye donation.

There are about 1.1 million corneally blind persons in the country. Another 25,000 are added each year. Eye donation in India today meets less than five percent of the demand for corneal transplants.

Removal of eyes takes only twenty minutes while the cornea transplant surgery can be performed in half an hour. Yet it must be remembered that eyes/corneas are human tissue and like other organs (kidneys, heart, and the like) needs sincere and sustained technical expertise and dedicated commitment to quality and systematic procedures to handle.
Facts about eye donation

Eyes should be donated within 6-8 hrs. of death.
Anyone can be a donor, irrespective of age, sex, blood group or religion.
One cornea is grafted to one person.
Total removal time is about 15-20 minutes.

The eye bank team will immediately reach the donor’s home to collect the eyes. This service is free.
Eyes are never bought or sold.
All religions endorse eye donation.

Change for Better

It is natural for all to wish a solemn farewell for their departed dears. The highly ritualized disposal practices followed by different communities since time immemorial are mark of their love and respect for the deceased. Cremation and burial of the dead bodies have been the most prevalent among all. Till now it all went well and could still go on. But we are faced with a grave threat-- environmental decay. Due to continuous exploitation of natural resources , we have fallen short of supplies which are on the verge of extinction. The earth can no longer bear the burden of its deads. We cant afford to burn tonnes of woods on a single corpse nor we are left with any space to allot it to bygones.The cremation leads to pollution of atmosphere and health hazards. Similarly, burying requires space and wooden boxes which again lead to deforestation. These anti- environment practices need to to be stopped immediately.

Change is the way of the world. We have modified our life style and modus operandi in almost all fields of life. Its time to rationalize and update our mortuaries, cemeteries and burials to cater to our present necessities. Electric crematorium is the prime need of the hour and very soon its going to be the way of life. However nostalgically we may linger on with the old customs, it will lead us to nowhere. Death is a reality, the rest is formality. We should be practical in our approach to the disposal of corpses.

" Old order changeth yielding place to the new....
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."

Change for the better. Change you must or will perish.

Live clean, die clean

To cremate bodies in India alone we need to cut 500-600 lakh trees every year covering 1500-1600 sq km of forest land. On an average one body needs 400-500 kg of wood to burn completely. In the process 80 lakh tonnes of ash and 80 lakh tonnes of green house carbon dioxide is released in the environment.
Now consider this, If all of us Indians switch entirely to other methods of disposal of bodies, India would earn carbon credits worth Rs 6,500 crore.
In Kanpur, for example, cremations have become a burden on the living and the environment. Ash and bones lie piled on the riverbanks where bodies are cremated. They get deposited on the river bed in the months of December to June when thee is not enough water in the rivers to wash the ash and bones away.

Electric Crematorium

I am not going to give up on the cause of body donation. But considering the doubts people have and the lack of courage to take decisions and decide things for themselves a friend suggested a `soft' approach. How about disposing off body in an electric crematorium ? Saves wood, time, lot of botheration. Will keep you posted. Please ask your friends to join if interested

a post from the enlightened one

It is certainly a very satisfying experience that something which is no longer of any use to you is made worthwhile for science and humanity. By a simple shift of thinking you turn a liability ( dead body) in to an asset for mankind. You made the best use of it so long as you were alive and you leave it for the usage and benefit of posterity. And to what use !! Your one pair of eyes can make two people see. Each organ, cells and tissues can give life to many. How can we be so selfish not to allow this relief and vital gift of life to others? Be benevolent. Be beneficial to the living after death.

A message from a friend....

The idea that one should give one's body and organs after death for research and transplant has always been with me. As a child, i knew only about eye- donation.Once at school, we were given forms for this. When i sought permission from my parents, i was instructed never to mention' death' and such 'ominous' things again. I received the similar instructions from my husband when i broached the subject with him. Thus for me, nothing has changed in these thirty years. But the urge refuses to die down. I feel it my responsibility not to let go waste what is unique and inimitable----the human body. No one should allow the non-utilization of so precious a material. I wish that my body, after death, be given to an arthritis foundation for research on this disease ; the disease which had once taken me to the brink of complete handicap and dejection. Today i owe my normal life and activities to medication i have been receiving. I will be only paying my debt by being a link in the chain of research and experiments going on to eradicate this malady. May be, in future, ones afflicted with the disease will find the world a less painful place to live in.

Its reassuring to find here people who think alike on this matter. Thanks donor ! I no longer feel alone.

Inspirational.... !

Raman Mohan Said....

Undoubtedly, giving your body after death for research and education is a laudable idea. But, somehow, I tend to associate "donation" with charity which giving your body for research or education is certainly not. It is an individual's way of paying back a debt to the human race of which we become part for our lifetime. It's more like saying "Thanks for letting me live, now let me help making future life better with less disease".So, we need to give a new name to the cause. Any ideas, friends? And what do you think of those who on the Net describe it as "the cheapest funeral?". Well, in a practical sense it is. But, is there not something more to it than mere cost?

July 9, 2010 9:23 PM

the first step...

It is a small beginning, but we will succeed ! What we all should do is to take our family into confidence. We may face indifference and be asked to keep our mouths shut. Just test the waters ! if you dont get a good response from the family, dont despair. we can share our views with friends and colleagues. the point is to keep the topic alive somehow. We must come out of the closet and discuss our death freely. Talk to your kids. Tell them what it is all about. Share stories of people who have donated their organs or who have pledged to donate eyes after death. look for like minded people and form a group. We are all together in this. Lets take one step at a time.