At the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) here, the cornea of a deceased woman was retrieved by a private body, Drusti Dan, on Friday.
The family members of the deceased had volunteered to donate the cornea following counselling by members of the Drusti Dan. A branch of the Drusti Dan under a ‘Hospital Cornea Retrieval Programme’ is operational here since about four months.
What was notable was that the cornea of a woman belonging to a minority community was retrieved for the first time in the State. “This is second case during our operation in Odisha where the family members of a deceased of the minority community volunteered to donate eyes. However, this is the first case where the cornea of a deceased woman of minority community is retrieved,” said Drusti Dan manager Niladri Bihari Das.
“The family members of the deceased were convinced that their priceless donate would help others in need, lost vision due to cornea disorder,” he said. Suhan Biwi, a resident of Srijang under the Sadar police station, died on Friday on the way to the DHH reportedly due to dehydration. She was received dead in the hospital. Suhan, following disturbance in her marital relationship, was residing with her parents since about six years after her husband deserted her.
This was the 32nd retrieval of cornea under the Drusti Dan initiative.