Basu eyes light up two lives

The eyes were grafted following routine clinical procedure, said a doctor of city-based Susrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre.

“His eyes were good. That means those were used,” centre secretary R C Pal said. He said as per medical norms, the doctors cannot reveal the identity of the recipients. “We keep it a top secret,” he added.

Earlier, questions were raised as to whether it would be proper to go ahead with the transplantation in view of the multiple organ failure suffered by the nonagenarian leader.
Basu’s eyes were donated to the Sushrut Eye Foundation and Research Centre and within an hour of his death, doctors led by its foundation secretary RC Pal, had harvested Basu’s corneas on January 17. Basu’s corneas had been preserved at the Sushrut Eye Bank since Sunday in a preservative solution.

But a group of doctors had questioned the move, on the plea that Basu’s old age diseases were not of ordinary nature, but quite serious. Hence, they felt that the process of cornea transplantation into one or many recipients could not be hastened unless the same is properly investigated.