NewZNew (Chandigarh) : For 15 years Vinod, a poor rickshaw puller’s son had lived in darkness and was resigned to this fate for the rest of his life. But little did he know that this Diwali, when many others around him suffered sight threatening eye injuries, his life was to get filled with light and ecstasy. The Grewal Eye Institute, with an outpouring of public donation following a sustained appeals on 94.3 MY FM and Round Table India (an NGO), gave him the ultimate gift of his life, substantially restoring his vision by transplanting cornea in his left eye with a promise to bring sight to his other eye as well within weeks and fully restoring his vision through a protracted rehabilitation program over the next few years.
Dr SPS Grewal, CEO, Grewal Eye Institute, told NewZNew here that because of lack of awareness Vinod, 18, lost his vision at a very early age. Though 60 percent vision has been restored in his left eye through cornea transplant, and the other eye will also be made functional through a cataract operation, his full vision will only be restored over a time consuming process of rehabilitation.
Dr Grewal held promise for doing this good turn to several other needy visually challenged people if the public at large continued to respond the way it had done in Vinod’s case. “The Institute stands committed to take care of such patients in close cooperation with the generous people of the tri-city,” he said.
Cluster Business Head – Punjab for 94.3 MY FM Abhilash Dave said “we always take up initiatives which benefit society. In the past too we have carried out ‘Ek Rupiya Abhiyan’ which was very successful and we will keep taking up such initiatives in the future too.”
Elaborating Vinod’s journey from darkness to light, Dr Grewal, said the teenager’s rickshaw puller homeless father, who was barely eking out a living for himself, his wife and only son, could by no means even dream of raising the money needed for the treatment involving cornea transplant in one eye, cataract removal in the other and the long rehabilitation process thereafter which could take long time.
“Considering the circumstances our institute in association with 94.3 MY FM, a local FM station and Round Table India, an NGO decided to give Vinod the gift of light by sharing the cost, with the institute footing a major portion of the expenditure on surgeries and the rehabilitation process. Repeated appeals made on the 94.3 MY FM station elicited an overwhelming response from the ever generous citizens of the tri-city which are continuing to pour in. One of the ways of raising funds was distributing diyas for a donation price with the promise that the entire proceeds from the sale would be directed towards Vinod’s treatment. While Vinod’s expenses are being shared by the institute and MY FM 94.3, we have agreed to utilise the remaining donations for similarly helping other needy visionless or vision deficient patients,” Dr Grewal added.