JOIN USThere is a ray of hope for the 16 patients facing stark blindness after an eye surgery for cataract removal went wrong at a charity eye camp in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.
The country’s second largest eye bank, being run by philanthropic sect Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana’s Sirsa district, has offered to provide corneas immediately and that too free of charge to victims of the botched surgeries at the camp.
Dr Aditya Insaan, an eminent eye surgeon and Director of the Eye Bank talking to Deccan Herald said, “Apparently there has been a serious damage done to the cornea of the patients. It seems that the infection in the eye has damaged it badly so much so that it is not even possible to remove the pus without completely damaging the eye. With cornea damaged, a corneal transplant is the only way out to restore their vision. We are making corneas available for these patients immediately and without charges. An expert surgical team is also available at all times”.
Dera Sacha Sauda has an enviable record of eye donations, especially since the eye donation movement is being spearheaded by the Dera head Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is the main drive motivating people to pledge their organs for donation.
The Dera’s eye bank has been making inroads in areas tough to access, including Jammu and Kashmir. Recently, when floods inundated the Kashmir valley, Dera Sacha Sauda’s eye bank teamed up with doctors at the Sher-E-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar to provide corneas.
As many as seven corneas were airlifted and out of these, five were used to restore sight of patients in the Valley. This was the first time that corneal transplants were done in the Valley.