Dr Shashi Kapoor, Ophthalmologist. |
The Tarun Mitra Mandal’s eye donation mission started in 1997, to mark 50 years of India’s independence.
Mumbai: In 1968, a batch of 14 students who had just completed their matriculation came together to form a charitable organisation. They registered the Tarun Mitra Mandal on Gandhi Jayanti, and dedicated a part of their income towards serving people, in every way they could. Over four decades, Tarun Mitra Mandal has grown from 14 to several hundred voluntary members, with work in various sectors.
Vikas Vira, son of one of the founding members S Vira, has been chairman of Tarun Mitra Mandal since 2018. “We work primarily on blood and eye donation, empowering the youth and building in them respect towards hard work.” They also do book donations and run libraries.
In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, the Tarun Mitra Mandal launched its Yuvraj Eye Donation mission. “Eye donation was severely stigmatised by several cultures. People feel queasy about treating a dead body for organ harvest. We work on awareness using our networks,” Vira said.
The mandal now has 37 mobile eye banks for Mumbai City, accredited by the International Federation of Eye Banks, an apex global body. “The organs are harvested and deposited with the Eye Bank Coordination and Research Center,” he said.
The Tarun Mitra Mandal’s Yuvraj eye donation movement also won awards and recognition for its work.
The pandemic and the lockdown disrupted years-long efforts by activists like Vira and the Tarun Mitra Mandal, with organ retrievals stalled during the period and the waiting period lengthened for those seeking corneal transplants.
According to data from the National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment, nationwide collection of donated eyes for corneal transplants fell from 65,417 in 2019-20 to 17,402 in 2020-21 and 33,733 in 2021-22.
During the pandemic, even when they received phone calls for eye donations, Vira said these had to be declined owing to the pandemic-related norms in place. It was only late in 2021 that eye donations and retrievals could pick up, enabling corneal transplants.
Vira said the work of rebuilding momentum on eye donation resumed immediately thereafter.
Through the mobile eye bank, Tarun Mitra Mandal has harvested over 16,000 eyes.
"We have a team of more than 250 health professionals. We are working on increasing our reach across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, he said.
The other work they have undertaken, apart from regular blood donation drives, includes an initiative called ‘Story of Makers’, a mission to nurture young minds and innovators, with more than 2,000 youngsters having attended their sessions to meet artists, researchers, philosophers, makers and educators to provide creativity-led learning for children. “We want to give back to the society focusing on children and youth,” Vira said.
