PANJIM, APRIL 22
Rotary Eye Bank of Goa carried out the first organ transplant operation in Goa.
According to the chairman of the Rotary Eye Bank of Goa Avinash Bhonsle the surgery was carried out on Dulo Betkekar, 56, from Agassaim.
“The patient had severe infection and had almost lost sight,” he said.
It was a complex surgery and even the Goa Medical College had asked the patient to move on to Mumbai, he said.
“The patient was referred by GMC to Mumbai and Rotary Eye Bank of Goa, convinced him to have the transplant done here,” he said.
He said all the corneal transplants at the Eye Bank are completely free of cost for the patients and today Rotary Eye Bank has all the facilities including transplant surgeons to carry out these operations.
“We hope that GMC in future refers all such patients to the Rotary Eye Bank of Goa so that the government saves health insurance and the patient and his family saves cost of travel and stay at the hospitals in other States where they are referred. It could be ideal public or private participation,” he said.
Rotary Eye Bank of Goa the only Eye Bank in Goa is established by Rotary Club of Panjim.
The Eye Bank, he said, is fully equipped at a cost of Rs 30 lakhs, at Vrundavan Hospital.
Bhonsle said the eye bank has appointed two grief counsellors who are stationed at the GMC to counsel family members of deceased individuals at the GMC.
The GMC has agreed to carry out enucleations of eye balls of deceased through its team of doctors on duty.
Since the inauguration, The Eye Bank has organized eye donation awareness campaigns at Corporate Offices, Factories and Health Campus, he said.
In past, Bhonsle added, the eye bank has enucleated eye balls of two deceased individuals Prof Kelekar and Mahesh Rau.
“The corneas had to be sent to Pune where four corneally blind persons were given eye sight as we did not have recipients here,” he said.
