The life of eye of a friend

Six days before he breathed last. He was one of the best and oldest students in my class. His family called me. They wanted to get his eyes donated as per his last wish. I called the national eye bank helpline number 1919. The telephone service provider kept telling me that I am trying the wrong number. I dialed the eye hospital directly as I knew where exactly the eye bank is. Their team came and got the job done. A large number of people gathered outside his house to know how the eye donation is done. I had to request the crowd towards a side to avoid distraction to the eye surgery team. I tried to explain the facts about eye donation to the anxious neighbors. I always wondered that in spite of so much promotion by stars like Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan, the knowledge about eye donation is quite limited. Our country needs about 2.5 lakh eyes and only about 25000 donations are received in a year. 

Many people still feel that eye donation can lead to deformity of the face, which is a complete myth. Only a very thin layer of the cornea is lifted from the eye. Sometimes corneas can even be sliced vertically to give the gift of vision to multiple people from one eye itself. Two eyes can often lead to a vision for four people in their life. Eyes of very old people, people with diabetes, etc, can also be donated successfully. Even if the person has never pledged his eyes, his family members still have the legal right to donate eyes after his death. Eyes can be donated up to six hours after death. Most hospitals in our country do not promote eye donation as a part of their service. Even if a person dies at the hospital, you might have to shift the person to your home before his or her cornea can be collected. 

This student in my class was an old man who used to come to learn computer operations. More than a student he had become a close friend. His eyes lived even after his death.