Woman donates eye after death, inspires 70 | The Indian Express

Taking an inspiration from a woman who kept her promise to donate her corneas after death, over 70 members of her family, relatives and friends have pledged to follow the suit.

It has been more than 13 days since Shantidevi Saxena died in Bhopal’s Indravihar Colony, but the number of her relatives who signed the pledge kept growing taking the staff of a trust-run eye hospital by surprise. From an 18-year-old to septuagenarians, the number of potential donors kept increasing. “It could easily exceed 70 because many others have expressed desire to donate their eyes,’’ says Shantidevi’s son Ashok who along with his wife Sangeeta, had already taken the pledge about 15 years ago.

But it was only after the actual donation of Shantidevi’s eyes that other members of the family, including youngsters, made a beeline for what counts as a noble act.

In Bhopal, about 9,000 cremations take place annually, but the number of eye donation is barely 90, said Suresh Awataramani, a functionary of the Seva Sadan Eye Hospital that had to send extra forms to the Saxena family. He said it was probably for the first that one family, relatives and friends have pledged their corneas in such a large number.

The family members claimed that nobody was coerced to sign the forms. “In fact, some relatives joked whether they will be born blind in their next birth. They eventually agreed that it was better to open their eyes in this very birth,’’ says Ashok, a family member.

MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre says Congress will soon launch an agitation against the state government and the Centre for their ‘anti-people’ policies.

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