Coimbatore Zone Eye Donation Trust organised a very different kind of felicitation function in Coimbatore sometime ago. It honoured the family members who had come forward to donate organs of their loved ones who died.

Volunteers of this Trust identified nearly family members of 79 donors for the felicitation.

So far this NGO has collected about 55 pairs of eyes (from donors) and the same has been handed over to Government Eye Bank, Sankara Nethralaya eye bank and the eye bank at the Aravind Eye Hospital. Also the skin that has been donated by about 22 people has been handed over to the skin bank established by Ganga Hospital.

Coimbatore-based St. Paul’s Eye Donation Association and Paras Param joined hands and founded the Coimbatore Zone Eye Donation Trust last May. Ever since this NGO came into being, its members and volunteers work towards motivating people to come ahead and pledge their organs.

“Only awareness among the public can help in bridging the demand-supply gap of eyes, skin and vital organs. This gap is widening year after year,” S.H. Noorullah, Senior Volunteer, Coimbatore Zone Eye Donation Trust, says.

He adds that every month nearly 200 people come forward to donate eyes in Coimbatore alone. Noorullah is positive that if there is enough awareness among the general public about eye, skin and donating vital organs, more families will come forward to willingly donate the organs of the dead, thus giving a new lease of life to multiple people.

In order to achieve this members and volunteers of this Trust organize camps to sensitise the public about organ, skin and eye donation. As part of their awareness campaigns, this NGO has spread messages about donation. The team of volunteers identified a few places that are frequented by the public and awareness advertisements prompting the public to pledge their organs have been erected.