Karachi : A blind person will be able to see light of the day after corneal transplant surgery was successfully performed at Pakistan Eye Bank Society Hospital.
Veteran Journalist Zubaida Mustafa pledged to donate her Corneas post death way back in 1975. She was a devout advocate of corneal donations leading to eradication of blindness. After her passing away, in pursuance to the pledged wish of Ms. Mustafa, both her corneas were retrieved. Transplant surgeries were performed at PEBS Hospital and SIUT simultaneously on two blind persons who were recipients of one cornea each. At PEBS Hospital, transplant surgery was performed by Dr. Faisal Murtaza on Mr. Mohammad Sadiq, who had become blind. Sadiq was a school teacher and was groping in the dark for years.
With the gifted corneas from Ms. Mustafa, the first surgery report was termed successful by Dr. Faisal and gave the good news that Mr. Sadiq would be able to see the world again.
Qazi Sajid Ali, President, Pakistan Eye Bank Society commented, “Corneal donations post death is a great humanitarian service and gives hope to the blind persons to see their near and dear ones and enable them to lead normal lives.
PEBS is striving to fight blindness through local corneal donations since 1968. This gesture of kindness by Ms. Mustafa will play a highly motivating role in strengthening the cause of post death corneal donations as well as negating the myths associated with it.
