Bengaluru: The family of Puneeth Rajkumar donated his eyes on Friday, following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Rajkumar.
Raghavendra Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar’s brother, contacted Dr. Rajkumar Eye Bank run by Narayana Nethralaya soon after the actor was declared dead.
Narayana Nethralaya chairman and managing director, K. Bhujang Shetty, told The Hindu that Dr. Rajkumar pledged the eyes of his entire family during the inaugural function of the eye bank (named after him) in 1994.
‘Even during their grief, the family has kept their father’s word and donated Mr. Puneeth’s eyes. They had donated the eyes of their mother, Parvathamma Rajkumar, too,’ Dr. Shetty said. He noted that eye donations had dropped by 80% during the pandemic, saying, ‘We hope this gesture by the family will give a boost to eye donations and inspire others to donate.’
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The Dr. Rajkumar Eye Bank has nearly 60,000 pledged eyes, but the number of patients awaiting corneal transplants keeps on growing. ‘At Narayana Nethralaya itself we have around 100 patients waiting for corneal transplants. Eyes can be retrieved within six hours of death but earlier the better,’ Dr. Shetty added.
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