Gayatri Narayan retrieves eyes from cadavers in Mudhugiri, Karnataka

 
“It’s challenging to approach grieving families in hospitals and burial grounds and convince them to donate the eyes of their dear departed. What keeps me going is the thought that each cadaver can gift eyesight to two visually challenged people”

Fifty-seven year-old Gayathri Narayan from Mudhugiri, Tumakuru district in Karnataka, has been visiting homes, hospitals and even burial grounds to help doctors retrieve eyes from cadavers for the past 30 years. Inspired by a TV programme, Narayan arranged the first eye donation in 1989. Word spread, and people started approaching her directly. In 2017, she became a certified eye retriever. To date, Narayan has arranged 250 eye donations. In fact, she has retrieved eyes from 35 cadavers herself. Storing the retrieved eyes in an eye kit, Narayan transports them through a cold chain to Dr Rajkumar Eye Bank, a wing of Bengaluru-based Narayana Netralaya. She also conducts awareness programmes to inspire and convince people to donate their eyes and has been awarded by Dakshin Bharatha Netradana Sammelan.

—Rachna Virdi

Photos courtesy: Gayathri Narayan
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
December 2018