Popular Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar has given a second lease of life to four people, even after passing on from a heart attack last Friday.

The 46-year-old superstar's eyes were donated to four people on the next day of his demise, using an advanced technique, reported New Indian Express.

Dr Bhujang Shetty, the chairman and managing director of the Narayana Nethralaya Eye Hospital, said that the transplant for the recipients, comprising two men, and two women, was done for free in honour of the Rajkumar family.

"In the midst of such a great tragedy, Puneeth Rajkumar's family agreed to donate his eyes, following in the footsteps of his father Dr Rajkumar, and mother Parvathamma, whose eyes were donated in 2006, and 2017, respectively.

"We collected the eyes of Appu (Puneeth) on Friday, the day he died, and the transplant was conducted the very next day," Shetty reportedly told the paper.

According to him, the transplant technique was the first of its kind in Karnataka, where four people have been gifted with sight at one go from one donor. It involves the slicing the corneo of each eye in half, with the front portion given to one beneficiary, and the second portion, to another.

"If the eyes are in good condition, they can be donated to four people. All the beneficiaries are doing well. The white portion of his eyes was also collected and sent to a lab, so limbal cells can be grown and used for a patient suffering corneal burns or any other damage," Shetty added.

Such a noble gesture indeed. Puneeth was reportedly a renowned philantrophist when he was alive, but to keep on giving until one is gone is a whole new matter altogether.


Source: New Indian Express
Photo source: India Glitz