Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Nov 2: ‘Power Star’ Puneeth Rajkumar, who was known for his down to earth behaviour and benevolence, gave eyesight to four patients. This was confirmed by Dr Bhujanga Shetty, head of Narayana Nethralaya.

Speaking at a programme organised on Monday November 1 at Narayana Nethrayala to mourn the death of Puneeth, Shetty, speaking after offering floral tributes to the picture of Puneeth, said that in a rare occurrence, perhaps for the first time in the history of the state, two eyes of a deceased person were used to treat four patients. He said that three of the beneficiaries of the surgeries were young men and the other one, a woman. All of them are aged between 20 and 30.

"We performed the surgical procedures on Saturday itself. All of the patients have clear eyesight now. For the first time in Karnataka, we have transplanted two eyes of a deceased person to four persons," he explained.

He said that each of the eyes were sliced into cornea and retina and transplanted the parts needed to restore the sight to four patients suffering from eye diseases. The outer part of the eye was transplanted to two patients with superficial corneal disease and the other two got deeper layer transplant, as they suffered from endothelial or deep corneal layer diseases. The procedure was performed by Dr Yatish Shivanna, Dr Sharone D'Souza, Dr Prarthana Bhandary and Dr Harsha Nagaraj, under the leadership of Dr Rohit Shetty. Dr Gyrik Kundu and Veeresh of cornea team also helped. He said that the team is thankful to Dr Rajkumar's family for donating the eyes at a time when they were going through so much grief.

The hospital sources said that more details of the patient beneficiaries cannot be provided to conform to rules and to protect the privacy of the patients.