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Journalism of Courage
On Friday, 37-year-old Tamizhselvi of Kodungaiyur committed suicide so that her two blind children could see. But her sacrifice was in vain. Doctors at Sankara Nethralaya say the chances of transplanting her cornea on the children are bleak.
Selvi and her husband Sankar had two sons, Kumaran (17) and Mohan Kumar (15), both blind by birth.
The hospital has confirmed that the younger son’s blindness cannot be rectified by a corneal transplant, and it seems that the elder one, too, does not have a corneal defect as he had apparently undergone a congenital cataract surgery at a hospital before.
Mohan Kumar had been operated upon at Sankara Nethralaya itself in 1990. As per hospital records, Mohan underwent ‘lensectomy’ (cataract removal) when he was just six months old. He gained 40 per cent vision after the surgery, according to his school authorities. Since Mohan has a cataract problem, a corneal transplantation cannot rectify the defect.
‘‘We have been told that the elder son had a cataract surgery done. But we are not drawing any conclusions yet. Only a check-up can confirm whether he can have a corneal transplant. Also, we had told the family earlier itself that a corneal transplant was not needed for the younger son,’’ said G Seethalakshmi of Nethralaya.
The hospital has, however, denied reports that the woman’s eye was unfit for transplant. ‘‘We still have not evaluated the eye fully. Doctors have rated it as ‘fair’, said Irungovel, a social worker.
There’s controversy over donorship also. The family is insisting the cornea had to be used only for the sons and no one else. ‘‘It was Selvi’s wish that her eyes be given to her sons. How can we allow it to be transplanted on anyone else?,’’ said Jaishankar.
