The Village with a Vision

Eye harvesting in Cherukulathur has its beginnings in blood donation. In the 1980s,patients from the village found it difficult to get blood in the government hospital. A group of villagers discussed the issue at TP Govidankutty Memorial Library,a vibrant library-cum-reading room in the village. They decided to build their own “blood group directory”,which would have details of blood groups of all the men of Cherukulathur. This would help not just fellow villagers in times of need,but patients from other villages,too,who would be treated at the government hospital 19 km away. So,whenever a patient needed blood,the hospital would direct his or her relatives to the village.

But donating blood was not enough for the good samaritans of Cherukulathur. TM Chandrasekharan,the secretary of TP Govidankutty Memorial Library,says,“Over time,people realised that they should donate beyond blood. But they did not know what.”

It was around this time,in 1996,that P Chathukutty,a social leader in the village,organised a camp where villagers pledged to donate their eyes. Months later,Chathukutty died,and became the first eye donor. Thus,the village intellectuals who would meet at TP Govidankutty Memorial Library decided that they would start donating eyes.

But it was not easy to convince villagers to donate their eyes. Between 1996 and 2003,only four pairs of eyes were donated in the village. A more systematic and coordinated approach was needed to convert Cherukulathur into a “complete eye-donation village”,says Chandrasekharan. In 2003,doctors were brought in to conduct awareness programmes,and some 15 squads were formed for door-to-door campaigns.

Chandrasekharan says over the last decade,the village has harvested eyes from “all deaths”. “We don’t have an eye bank. As soon as there is a death in the village,someone known to the deceased informs the library office-bearers,who,in turn,alert the government hospital and two other private eye hospitals. We do not choose among the hospitals. The medical teams then come to our village to collect the eyes.”

Today,medical teams are a mobile phone call away,but in the years past,recalls library officer MT Raveendran,“villagers would stand at every junction to flag down the teams”. Such was their determination that “even rains or odd hours would not stop us from donating a corpse’s eye.’’ Cherukulathur’s story is well-known in nearby districts,and library office-bearers are often invited to speak at eye donation awareness programmes in north Kerala.

Buoyed by their eye donation story,some villagers now want to donate their bodies. Fifteen persons have given their written agreement to the forensic department of the medical college in Kozhikode,expressing their willingness to donate bodies for medical studies.

Next month,TP Govidankutty library plans to organise a meeting to honour the families of the 100 donors who have made Cherukulathur a village with a vision.