AFMC: 700 pledge their eyes in 2 weeks,commandant too

The Armed Forces Medical College has achieved a unique landmark with the registration of over 700 eye donation pledges in the past two weeks. Paramedical trainees,doctors,faculty,director and commandant of AFMC Air Marshal GS Joneja,VM pledged to donate their eyes in front of a gathering of over 1000 medical students and professionals assembled for the Inter-Collegiate Ophthalmic Quiz-2011organised by the Department of Ophthalmology,AFMC.

Accompanied by the Dean and Deputy Commandant,Maj Gen Manoj Luthra,VSM,the commitment of the senior doctors provided an impetus to the eye donation campaign of the college. The director and commandant exhorted the audience to rise above fear and dogma to donate eyes to those in need.

The Ophthalmic Quiz was organised as part of a two-week awareness campaign on eye donation. Six teams from the Medical Colleges of Pune participated in the contest which was won by the undergraduate team from Bharatiya Vidyapeeth. The AFMC undergraduate team came a close second.

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India has over 12 million visually impaired individuals,roughly 20 per cent of the world total. About 3 million of them are disabled due to defective cornea and a majority of them are children.

Unfortunately,every year 25,000 more people are added to this list,according to doctors from H V Desai eye hospital.