A son, who had earlier donated the eyes of his father, has again come forward and donated the eyes of her mother.

Eswara Rao, 52, son of V. Vignesham and Vangada Veeramma, has pledged to donate his eyes after his death. The development took place in Berhampur, the commercial hub of southern Odisha, on Friday.

Rao, who is working as a library attendant in a private college, told The Telegraph: “If for us, someone sees the light of the sun, then we consider ourselves as fortunate. After we came in contact with a voluntary group of the city last year, we deliberated on the issue of donating the eyes. Last year we donated the eyes of our father V. Vignesham on September 7, 2021, following his death at the age of 82.”

Rao said: “My mother Veeramma died at the age of 74 on Friday. Prior to her death, I discussed the issue with her. Even the three of my sisters — V. Vijayalaxmi, Y. Laxmi, and B. Padmavati — agreed to the initiative. After her death, we made contact with the local volunteer group Friends Helping Club. They immediately organised the process of eye donation,”

Former president of Friends Helping Club, Jammula Suresh Babu, said: "We organised the eye donation. It took place under the guidance of Dr Shreya Chakraborty and Dr Somani Baral of the eye department, MKCG Medical College and Hospital. Dr Suchitra Das collected both the corneas of the deceased Veeramma at her residence on Friday evening.”

He said: “For our initiatives, a number of people have come forward and pledged to donate their eyes. The trend of eye donation is slowly catching up. There have been several incidents of eye donations in the state. More than 600 eyeballs or corneas have been donated by this club to the MKCG Medical College since 2001. A big salute to the family for their interest in donating the eyes.”