CORNEAL BLINDNESS ELIMINATION PROJECT (CBEP)

“WHY LET THEM LINGER IN THE DARK WHEN WE CAN SHARE OUR VISION”

FACTS...

Number Of Deaths No Of Corneally Blind

Actual Donations (25 Thousands)Needed Donations (30 Lakhs)Possible Donations (1.5 Crores)

• There is a definite need for this project because, assuming that only one in every 5 deceased persons donates his/her cornea (not to be confused with the eye, cornea is only a transparent layer covering the eye) the entire country’s corneally blind can be given the gift of sight in a matter of days.

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Only 0.8% of the corneally blind in India undergo Corneal Grafting every year as there is a huge scarcity of cornea donors.

REASONS FOR VERY LESS DONATIONS

Ignorance

Don’t know that

corneas can be

donated after death

Unaware of the huge

requirement

Inhibitions

Superstitions,

Religious Beliefs

Fear of Compete removal of Eyes

Don’t remember

Forget due to shock,

emotional issues

accompanying

death of the

pledger

Whom to contact ?

Don’t know

whom to contact

Lack of infrastruct

ure

Collection

Evaluation

Grafting

Transportation 3

MODUS OPERANDIAwareness

Dial 104

Collection (Collecting cornea from the deceased)

Evaluation (Evaluating if the cornea is healthy)

Grafting (Replacing the damaged cornea with the healthy corneal tissue)

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STARTING WITH HYDERABADAwareness

Dial 104

Cornea Collection

Cornea Evaluation

Cornea Grafting

We plan to start with Hyderabad and will be concentrating only on Hyderabad during the first year

Since there are sufficient eye collection centers, Eye banks and hospitals in Hyderabad, we will be working primarily on the awareness and Dial 104 part

Once we have an effective, sustainable and replicable model, we plan on implementing the same in other towns/cities starting with Warangal

Except Hyderabad, in remaining places of AP, along with the awareness and Dial104 part, we need to focus on setting up eye collection centers also

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AWARENESS

We will plan, discuss and implement Innovative, Effective and Appealing means to spread awareness

Will spread awareness through Internet Mass Media Peer2Peer – Most effective Others

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Website Will have appealing videos, detailed posts to tell

the need and to address the myths Visitors can share their experiences, feedback Visitors can shout using the social networking

sites Blogs – posts, Flash Banners

Will provide flash banners and other advertising material

Facebook, Twitter, Orkut and others7

AwarenessInternet Mass Media Peer2Peer Others

News pape

rs

•Advertisements•Feature articles•Updated information

T.V.Channels

•Celeb messages•Advertisements•Panel discussions•Scientific documentaries

Theatres

•Play short feature films•Celeb messages

Radio

•Advts•Messages by RJs/celebs•Discussions

MassMedia

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AwarenessInternet Mass Media Peer2Peer Others

Make recipients speak Corporate presentations Village Camps APJUDA

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AwarenessInternet Mass Media Peer2Peer Others

Location Hospital

Vishakapatnam Andhra M C

Guntur Guntur M C

Kakinada Rangaraya M C

Vijayawada Siddartha M C

Kurnool Kurnool M C

Tirupathi S.V.R.Ruia Hospital

Anantapur Govt M C

Hyderabad Osmania M C

Hyderabad Gandhi M C

Warangal Kakatiya M C

• AP JUDA representative of

that hospital will coordinate

this entire activity

• AP JUDA doctors in these

hospitals will counsel the

attendants/relatives of

deceased patient for eye

donation.

Auto Rickshaws– posters for 104 Collaboration with Archies, Hallmark :

Memento for donors The memento itself should spread the

awareness Donor family members will feel much more

responsible to spread the awareness

And many more .. Once we start working we can come up with better ways to reach people 10

AwarenessInternet Mass Media Peer2Peer Others

COLLABORATION WITH HMRI(104) The present 1919 toll free number is accessible only in

Hyderabad and Vijayawada, that too only from BSNL landlines

Unlike 1919, 104 will be a toll free number accessible anywhere in AP from any mobile/landline round the clock

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The Lakshya Foundation

• Advertise 104 for corneal donation

• Give training to 104 call centre employees

• Update HMRI with the collection centre list every 3 months

• Analyze the data

HMRI (104)

• Advise people• Forward the call to

nearest eye collection centre

• Give us the data once in a week

EXPANSION – OTHER PLACES When replicating this in other places (starting with

Warangal), we need to concentrate on ground-level things in addition to spreading awareness and 104

Eye Collection Centers There should be sufficient eye collection centers spread

across the state so that cornea can be retrieved with in 4-6hrs from the time of death

We will strive to achieve the same in collaboration with various eye banks, hospitals and NGOs

Transportation APSRTC & Courier Services(if needed) will be playing a major

role ina. Transporting corneas from eye collection centers to eye

banks for evaluation.b. Transporting healthy corneas from eye banks to eye

hospitals for grafting.

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KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Number of calls to 104 Success rate of APJUDA (No of cases

convinced/ No of cases counselled) Number of scrolls/ telecasts in mass media Number of people reached Number of eye donations

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GROUND WORK I met these people personally and discussed

regarding corneal donation, challenges and related issues.

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Tirupati

1. Krishnamurthy garu H.O.D, Ophthalmology dept, S.V.Medical College

2. K.Srinivasan Secretary, Nava Jeevan blind centre, Tiruchanur.

3. N.Sunil  Final Year MBBS, S.V Medical college

4. Dr .Sidda Reddy PHC, Chandragiri 

5. Srinivas Para medical, 108 ambulance services

6. Yadagiri Driver , 108 ambulance services

7. Subramanyam garu Asst General manager, BSNL, Chittor district (regarding 1919)

Bangalore

8. Dr. Mamatha lions eye bank

Cont …

Chennai

9. Dr. Ashokan  A.P. Hitendran trust, Thirukalukundran

10. Dr. Pishpanjali ashokan  A.P. Hitendran trust, Thirukalukundran

11. Harsha malkani PG Ophthalmology 1st year, Rajan eye care centre

Hyderabad

12. Srinivas Chief eye bank technician, L.V. P Eye institute

13. Raghu Grief Counselor, NIIMS

14. Umachand Office in charge, EBAI

15. Dr Nagesh state convener, APJUDA

16. Dr Raghu Kishore APJUDA

17. .Lalitha Raghuram  Director, MOHAN foundation

18. Dr. (Lt. Col.) Dayakar   Advisor, HMRI

19. Bhaskar Correspondent, Zee telugu

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The above people I have listed (especially Dr. (Lt. Col.) Dayakar , Dr Nagesh, Dr Ashokan) will readily help us in our project in every way possible.

SUCCESS TILL NOW Collaboration with HMRI

Fortunately I met the best person in HMRI Dr. (Lt. Col.) Dayakar , a visionary and a very inspiring person. (http://www.hmri.in/advisors.aspx)

He is ready to help us out in this project through HMRI . Collaboration with APJUDA

Met Mr. Nagesh, APJUDA state convenor a couple of times and he too has expressed his interest to work on this project. In due time, they want to undertake this as the first project of APJUDA .

Inclusion of Raghu in the team Raghu has been working as Grief Counselor in NIMS, Hyderabad

for the last 6 years. He is very resourceful and is keenly interested in working with us.

Inclusion of Kishore, Raghuveer in the team Both Kishore and Raghuveer are 2nd year NITW students from

HYD . They are already associated with EBAI and will be a huge asset to the team for executing the project in Hyderabad.

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PEOPLE INVOLVED

Till now, Myself, Pavan M(ECE 2008), Ramesh R(EEE 2008) and Pavan T (ECE 2004) are working on this .

Once the execution starts, more will get involved.

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VISION

Making corneal donation a routine in Andhra Pradesh by spreading awareness in every way possible , by eliminating all the religious and medical related myths associated with corneal donation

“With effective planning, co-

ordination and dedicated effort , we can definitely aim at materializing our vision”.

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- SRIHARI MANERU

Thank you

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