A 19-year-old boy got the gift of sight through corneal transplant on Thursday at Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Dhanbad, the first good news to emerge from the medical hub in recent times.

Claiming it was the first success in any state-run medical hub in Jharkhand, head of PMCH ophthalmology department Rajnikant Sinha, who performed the surgery, said: "It's a good feeling."

He said the names of the deceased donor, a 58-year-old, and the 19-year-old recipient, were confidential. "We can't disclose the names as per the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 2011. But, the 19-year-old is doing fine," he said.

Sinha said he and his team had tried to transplant the second cornea to a 65-year-old visually impaired man on Thursday itself. "But, it wasn't successful. The elderly man was nervous, had cardiac problems. The 19-year-old was healthy and had strong nerves."

The success of one corneal transplant apart, Sinha said the heartening aspect was that the donor's widow called them up at 2am on Wednesday, soon after her bereavement.

"We rushed to the address with necessary equipment and van given by Rotary Club, Dhanbad," said Sinha. "My colleague Uday Shankar Singh carried out the excision. We stored the human corneas in M-K medium," Sinha said.

Praising the bereaved lady's attitude, Sinha said: "It is thanks to her timely phone call that another human being will be able to see now."

"This marks a new era for us," Sinha said. "The eye bank was set up at PMCH on August 5, 2003. We have pledge cards of over 650 donors, the equipment and facilities, for which we thank Rotary Club and state health department. But, this is the first time everything came together successfully."