All Bihar medical colleges to have eye banks by December end: Nitish Kumar

Patna : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced that eye banks will be set up in all the medical colleges of the state and at the super speciality eye hospital here by the year end. The step will facilitate eye donation campaign, Kumar told a function organised by Dadhichi Dehdan Samiti (DDS) on the occasion of International Organ Donation Day.

He also declared to donate his eye on the occasion and hoped that the government would be able to implement the second round of reforms in the health sector so that people will not have to go outside for treatment. Kumar said kidney transplantation has been started at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) and will also be started at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Liver transplantation will start at IGIMS by the end of this year, he said.

Stressing on organ donation, he said the state government would extend all help for it. The campaign on abolishing dowry and child marriage to be launched on Gandhi Jayanti will also tell the people about the importance of organ donation.

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi exhorted people to come forward to take the pledge to donate their organs and body and said he has already donated his body. "In cricket, one has the opportunity to play a second inning but one can also do so in his/her own life by donating his/her eye or organ," he has already declared to donate his body. Health Minister Mangal Pandey declared to donate his eyes.