The Bihar Deputy Chief Minister on August 11 said that eye banks will be set up in all the nine medical colleges of the state by Dussehra this year.

A target has been set for completing 1,000 cornea transplants in the next one year, the deputy chief minister said at an event, organized by Dadhichi Deh Daan Samiti (DDDS) here ahead of the World Organ Donation Day on August 13. The nine medical colleges have been given Rs 1.5 crore each for setting up the eye banks and trained workforce will be recruited for the purpose, he said. Despite scientific progress, human organs are not developed in laboratories and "one can save a life only when a person decides to donate his/her organ," he said.

Of the 10 lakh people who have taken a pledge by submitting a form in this regard in West Bengal alone, 1,800 people have donated their bodies after their death. A total of 412 cornea and 54 kidney transplants have so far been carried out successfully at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) here, Modi said.