This story is from November 27, 2020

Parents of 21-yr-old suicide victim donate his eyes

Parents of 21-yr-old suicide victim donate his eyes
Rajkot: It was the worst decision that as parents Girish Bhatelia and his wife Poonam had to take for their son, 21-year-old Bhavik — and they didn’t have time to waste. Every second mattered and amid their grief, the duo let life win over their son’s pyre. As soon as they said yes, doctors harvested his eyes in the crematorium.
But darkness descended on the shell-shocked Bhatelia family soon after their son took away his life in a drastic move on Wednesday evening by jumping off 12 floors in Rajkot after he had gone to see a doctor.
The father of the deceased said that his son was under psychiatric treatment and his depression worsened during the lockdown period because of continued engagement in mobile.
An inconsolable father, Girishbhai told TOI, “We got the body late in the evening after completion of post mortem and decided to complete the final rites the same evening. During some ritual we noticed his eyes open and as if he was looking at us to say something. We then decided to to keep his eyes alive. But it had to be done soon before curfew hours set in and also had to be done with the cremation.”
The relatives contacted an organ donation foundation and a team of doctors reached Mota Mauva crematorium.
Eye surgeon Dr Hemal Kansagara told TOI, “We have pre-steriled instruments and we are therefore ready on the go. We take about 20 minutes to reach a call for eye donation and have trained technicians and medical officers who can harvest eyes within 15-odd minutes. We also go to crematorium for harvesting eyes and this is the third eye in recent time we have acquired in crematorium.”
Rajkot generally gets 150 to 200 eye donations in a year.
Bhavna Mandli engaged with organ donation foundation said, “We got a call at 5:30pm and did not waste a single minute and prepared ourselves to harvest the eyes. They had started for crematorium and we sent a team there as it is crucial to harvest eyes within seven-eight hours of death.”
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About the Author
Nimesh Khakhariya

Nimesh Khakhariya is an assistant editor with Times Of India.

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