Grief councillors thwarted by superstition

Grief councillors thwarted by superstition
Gauri Gharpure | tnn
Kolkata: For corneal blindness patients, a transplant is the only treatment. "In India, about 1.1 million people suffer from corneal blindness and families of only about 15,000 people have consented to donate eyes of their loved one," said Malay Ray, secretary of International Eye Bank.
Grief counsellors play a crucial role in cornea collection.Posted at government hospitals, they approach a bereaved family after half-an-hour's grief window and gently suggest eye donation. However, in spite of their efforts, lack of awareness and superstition often comes in the way.
Jayanta Das, a grief counsellor posted at Medical College Hospital, shares his experience. "I was surprised that when a doctor died, his son also a doctor refused donation on religious grounds," he said. Debashish Chakraborty, a grief counsellor appointed by the International Eye Bank at M R Bangur Hospital says that relatives sometimes refuse donations because of a superstition that the person would be born blind in the next birth.
But there is hope. Sujoy Kumir (24), a resident of Batan village in Howrah, reserves deep gratitude to the families whose consent for eye donation gave him the gift of sight. "I don't know whom to thank, but I pray for them each day," says the youth who has undergone successful corneal grafting in both his eyes.
"I had to wait almost a year after I registered at Disha for a corneal transplant and was operated on the right eye in December 2007. In August 29 this year, my left eye was operated. My world is no longer hazy," he says.
Farm labourer Madhusudan Let (55) suffered from a fungal ulcer in his left eye. The Birbhum resident was given a cornea transplant in early October. His son Uttam is happy that his father can now move about on his own. "Before the operation, he was totally dependent on someone else," he said.