Odisha: Late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s eyes helped four persons to see this beautiful world, instead of two. This could be possible due to the latest technology employed by doctors at Dr. Rajkumar’s Eye Bank at Narayana Nethralaya here.
Normally, two blind patients benefit from two corneas of a deceased person, but in Puneeth’s case four patients were benefitted. Due to the latest technology, a team of doctors was able to slice two corneas of Puneeth into four and transplant them to four patients, Narayana Nethralaya Founder-Chairman Dr. Bhujang Shetty told reporters here.
The transplants were performed by a team of doctors led by Rohit Shetty, who is Cornea and Refractive Surgery Department Head. Other doctors in the team are Yatish Shivanna, Medical Director of Dr. Rajkumar Eye Bank, and consultants Sharon D’Souza, Harsha Nagaraj and Prarthana Bhandary. Among the four beneficiaries, one is a woman, and all of them are doing well after the transplantation, he said. Giving an explanation for the press to understand better, Dr Shetty said, “The front portion of Puneeth’s corneas were transplanted into two patients, whose front portion of the corneas were damaged. Likewise, the rare end of the corneas were given to two other patients, whose rare end of the corneas were damaged,” he said.
Soon after Puneeth’s death on October 29, the eldest brother of the late actor Raghavendra Rajkumar called Dr. Rajkumar’s Eye Bank at Narayana Netralaya to collect the eyes, keeping intact Dr. Rajkumar’s family tradition of donating eyes after their deaths. Dr. Shetty said D.r Rajkumar had pledged the eyes of his entire family at the inauguration of the eye bank in 1994.
