To give impetus to eye transplants in the Millennium City, the Gurgaon Police have now allowed the retrieval of corneas from accident victims before the post-mortem.
It makes Gurgaon the first district of Haryana to allow retrieval of corneas of accident victims before post-mortem. The practice already exists in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
A letter to the Deputy Commissioners of Police concerned in this regard from the Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal said that “there should be no objection to the removal of cornea before post-mortem examination, except in such cases where the preservation of the cornea is essential and would lead to evidence throwing light on the facts of the case under investigation and the circumstances of the death.”
The decision to allow retrieval of cornea comes after Niramaya Charitable Trust, which has been running Y.P. Mahindru Niramaya Eye Bank since 2007, took up the matter with the district police administration two months ago seeking their cooperation.
Though the road accidents rate is high in Gurgaon, the instances of cornea retrieval are few because of delay in post-mortem.
The eye transplant is possible only if the cornea is harvested within 6-7 hours of the death, according to Y. P. Mahindru Niramaya Eye Bank medical director Hitendra Ahooja.
