Health Minister Zahid Maleque chaired a seminar arranged by SANDHANI National Eye Donation Society on National Voluntary Blood Donation and Posthumous Eye Donation Day, that fell on November 2.

Education Minister Dipu Moni inaugurated the donation program.

The health minister said, posthumous eye donation can give sight to many legally blinds people, of which there should be greater awareness.

"We will have to make eye donation as spontaneous as blood donation in the country. SANDHANI can play a key role in it," he said.

Dipu Moni said, "We still receive most of the eyes from unclaimed dead bodies. Posthumous eye donors are mostly youths."

She put the onus on SANDHANI to enlist donors.

"SANDHANI will need to campaign for eye donation as they successfully did for the blood donation," said the education minister, who before entering politics devoted her career to public health activism.