The great gift of sight from a small panchayat; The Vadanappally model

Thrissur: As the team from Little Flower Hospital in Angamaly returned after harvesting an eye of a donor from Vadanappally at 5:30 in the morning, they received another call from the panchayat informing them that another eye donor had died. The staff promptly returned and procured the organ. But before they returned, they were informed that this was the 154th eye to be donated from this small panchayat.

In the past five years, 154 people have received the gift of sight from the kind-hearted people of Vadanappally panchayat. Since 2017, this area has donated the most number of eyes in Kerala. 

All this began with an eye donation camp organized by the St. Francis Xavier's church, Vadanappally. This was organized by a volunteer group called the Society of Vincent de Paul. Regardless of caste and religion, 1522 individuals from the 296 houses in the area signed the donation form, including the parish vicar, Fr Abel Chirammel. 

The parish was declared as a complete eye donation bank on September 25, 2022. It was 80-year old Eliya whose eyes were harvested on Thursday. Under the aegis of Little Flower hospital, check-ups and free treatment camps are organized at regular intervals. The forerunners of this project include HC advocate P.F Joy and Society President P.V Lawrence.