NGO Roshni secretary Rajnish Kumar at Jamshedpur Eye Hospital on Saturday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, April 6: A septuagenarian passed away, only to remain alive in the hearts of many Jamshedpur residents.

Thanks to his family’s decision to donate his eyes, B.B. Mohanty (78), who died at his Azad Nagar house in Mango on Thursday, went on to become the centurion eye donor for Roshni, a city-based voluntary organisation.

“Mohanty’s son got in touch with us and we immediately rushed with the team to his Mango residence to harvest both the corneas. The team was led by Dr D.K. Singhal of Jamshedpur Eye Hospital, technician Ravindra Prasad and Roshni’s assistant secretary Parvinder Singh Kapoor,” said Rajnish Kumar, secretary of the NGO that has been working in tandem with Jamshedpur Eye Hospital to spread awareness on eye donation since 1994.

Roshini will now organise a small function to felicitate Mohanty’s kin.

Kumar, who has been inducted into the executive panel of Eye Bank Association of India, added that possible recipients were now being screened to reap the benefit of the donation. Roshni has already made 146 transplantations with 99 donations till January.

The NGO, which operates from Sakchi Eye Hospital premises and represents Eye Bank Association of India in Jamshedpur, has close to 3,000 registered donors. According to norms, a trained professional can only remove the eyes of a pledged donor after consent from his/her kin within a few hours of his/her death.

“We have been working to create awareness on eye donations and the response has been positive so far. We will start an awareness campaign in schools and urge parents to attend it,” Kumar said.

“Life of all who received donated corneas have changed. They have moved from a world of darkness to one where they can sustain themselves and their families,”said Kumar, adding that they had generated lot of interest in not only the district but also in Ranchi and West Singhbhum.