Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2026
Ex Vivo OCT-Based Multimodal Imaging of Human Donor Eyes for Research into Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Published on: May 26, 2023
Role of 'Community Grief Counsellors' in Enhancing Eye Donations
Josephine Susai Christy1, Rashmita Ravisankar1, Kalaivani Kannan2
1Cornea and Refractive Surgery Services, Aravind Eye Hospital, Cuddalore Main Road, Thavalakuppam, Puducherry, India.
Introduction:
Corneal blindness remains a major public health concern, with a persistent shortage of donor corneas despite awareness initiatives. Ambulance drivers and freezer box service providers, due to their close interaction with bereaved families, may influence eye donation decisions; however, their knowledge, attitude, and practices toward eye donation remain underexplored.
Objective:
To understand the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) towards eye donation among ambulance workers and freezer box service providers.
Methodology:
A validated questionnaire containing 19 questions on knowledge, six on attitude and seven on practice patterns was administered to the study population and their responses were analysed.
Result:
Mean age of the participants was 37.57 years. Among all, 69% of the study population had received at least secondary school education. The study participants had partial knowledge (mean score: 15), fair attitude (mean score: 5.8) and poor practise (mean score: 2.7) pattern towards eye donation. Using Dunn's pairwise comparison test, it was observed that the attitude scores of freezer box workers were significantly lesser in comparison to ambulance drivers (p = 0.001) and owners (p = 0.017).
Conclusion:
The study brought to light that active awareness campaigns are required in this cohort and there is considerable potential to improve eye donation if they partner with local eye banks.
