Here's how MKCG Medical College hospital Berhampur is lighting up lives

In its pursuit to light up lives, the Opthalmology department in Berhampur's Maharaja Krushna Chandra Medical College (MKCG) Hospital has so far conducted 380 successful eye transplants since its inception in 2006.

"We coordinate with NGOs and different organisations, create awareness among the hospital staff to inform us where ever there is a donor. Besides, we conduct public meetings to make people aware about eye donation. A not for profit organisation Friends Helping Club has helped us a lot in this regard," informs Professor Nageswar Rao Subudhi, Head of the Department of Ophthalmology of MKCG Hospital. The opthalmology department has been trying different ways to urge more and more people to donate eyes. It also organises an eye donation camp every year from August 25 for a fortnight.

"The corneas donated by senior citizens are not always suitable for transplantation. Mostly, we talk it out with family members of deceased accident victims and motivate them for donations,” explains the HOD and adds, “The donor corneas should be collected within six hours of death of a person and eye transplant should be performed ideally within 72 hours, while the transplant of the eyeballs should be peformed within 48 hours. We preserve the Cornea and eyeballs in the preservation bottles provided free of cost.”

Among the 460 cornea and eyeballs collected so far, 380 were used for transplant surgeries, however rest have been used for research purposes, informs Professor Subudhi.

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