Parents of two-year-old Vanshika Sarna decided to donate the little one’s eyes after she succumbed to head injuries after falling off the balcony while playing at home in Gumla on Friday morning.
The tribal parents of the child Chandraaprakesh and Sulekha Panna rushed their only daughter to a local hospital where she was administered first aid.
They then decided to get her to Ranchi, which is about 100 kms from Gumla for better treatment but unfortunately the child died on the way. On reaching Rani Children’s Hospital, Vanshika was declared brought dead.
The shattered parents instead of waiting for a death certificate to be issued took a brave decision of donating the eyes of their only child and headed to Kashyap Memorial Eye Hospital.
“We want to keep our daughter alive and see the world through someone else’s. She was our only child. I feel that everyone in this world should pledge to donate their eyes. We hope her eyes are given to children and would also love to meet them once,” said the emotional mother.
Medical Director, Kashyap Memorial Eye Bank and noted ophthalmologist Dr Bharti Kashyap said that an incident like this has occurred at the hospital for the first time.
“Earlier we had gone to collect eyes at a graveyard where a man lifted his daughter Shreya from her grave for the same purpose. We have also collected the eyes of newlywed Neha Bajoria — a victim of Rajdhani Express derailment. But, this is the first time when parents have reached the hospital without waiting to get a death certificate. This is unique in the field of eye donation,” said Dr Kashyap.
The baby’s cornea was removed and preserved by the hospital’s cornea specialist Dr Nidhi Gadkar Kashyap in such a way that there was no disfigurement to the child’s face. Dr Nidhi who has an expertise in all kinds of corneal transplants is soon going to transplant the cornea to two needy corneal blind patients.
The mother Sulekha Panna works in Gramin Bank in Nagfeni, Gumla while the father Chandraprakesh is self-employed.
By the time this report was filed on Saturday evening, under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, one cornea was transplanted to a patient free of cost, while the second one is also likely to be done in the next one or two days.