Puneeth's eyes help four to see, instead of two

Normally, two blind patients benefit from two corneas of a deceased person, but in Puneeth's case four patients were benefitted.

A team of doctors was able to slice two corneas of Puneeth into four and transplanted them in four patients, Narayana Nethralaya Founder-Chairman Dr Bhujang Shetty told reporters here.

The transplants were performed by a team of doctors led by Rohit Shetty, who is Cornea and Refractive Surgery Department Head.

Other doctors in the team wee Yatish Shivanna, Medical Director of Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank, and consultants Sharon D’Souza, Harsha Nagaraj and Prarthana Bhandary.

The four beneficiaries also include a woman, and all of them are doing well after the transplantation carried out on Saturday, he said.

"The front portion of Puneeth's corneas were transplanted into two patients, whose front portion of the corneas were damaged. Likewise, the rear end of the corneas were given to two other patients who had the rear end of their corneas  damaged," he explained.

Soon after Puneeth's death on October 29, his eldest brother Raghavendra Rajkumar called Dr Rajkumar's Eye Bank at Narayana Netralaya to collect the eyes, keeping intact Dr Rajkumar's family tradition of donating eyes after their death.

Dr Shetty said Dr Rajkumar had pledged the eyes of his entire family at the inauguration of the eye bank in 1994.