Family Donates Eyes Of Doc, Bats For Awareness From School Level

New Delhi: The Taneja family recently chose to donate the eyes of Dr Satyapal Taneja, their 82-year-old patriarch and former head of Tilaknagar MCD Hospital, after he died on June 7, as a tribute to his lifelong service in the medical field.
Dr Taneja dedicated his career to patient care and community service until his retirement. "He was always focused on helping others," a family member said. "We believe this decision would align with what he valued throughout his life."
In April last year, Dr Taneja was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain tumour. Despite surgical intervention, his condition deteriorated. His daughter, Dr Archana Arora, a dental surgeon and
organ donation
advocate through the Rotary Club of Organ Donation, stated that their decision reflected her father's principles.
"It felt important to continue his legacy through eye donation," she said.
"Being a family of doctors, we understood the limitations of organ donation in cases of natural death at home. Due to the presence of malignancy, most organs and tissues, including blood vessels and bones, were unsuitable for donation. The eyes remained the only viable option for donation in this circumstance. As physicians ourselves, with my mother being a gynaecologist, we were well-versed with these medical protocols," Dr Arora said.
She discussed eye donation awareness in India. "Visual impairment affects roughly 2% of people due to various eye conditions, including corneal problems, glaucoma and cataracts. India has 1.1 million people suffering from corneal blindness. The country requires over 1 lakh corneal transplant procedures annually, yet only manages to perform about 25,000 transplants each year, falling significantly short of the demand," she said.
By sharing their experience, the Taneja family hopes to encourage more families to consider eye donation, recognising its significant impact on those in need.
She revealed that organ donation rates in India show less than one donor per million people, whilst yearly deaths from organ failure reach about 500,000 due to organ unavailability. Delhi faces similar issues, with NOTTO data showing thousands of dialysis patients awaiting organ transplants yearly.
Including organ donation in school curricula will address misconceptions and provide accurate information to students, who will influence their families and communities, she said. An accessible organ donation emergency helpline should be pre-installed on mobile devices, offering immediate information and support for organ donation, ensuring swift responses and coordination for potential donors, Dr Arora added.
"Our club's Lift UP (Life Increasing Funded Transplant for the Underprivileged) Project has supported eight free kidney transplants for economically disadvantaged women in Bengaluru, India, through a global grant from The Rotary Foundation (TRF). We suggest the Delhi govt expand this model citywide for maximum impact," Dr Arora said.
She noted that insufficient organ retrieval centres hinder effective organ collection and transplantation. "We advocate establishing additional retrieval centres in key Delhi hospitals to improve infrastructure, expedite retrieval, and reduce viable organ wastage. These initiatives, when implemented, will establish Delhi as an exemplar for organ donation awareness and infrastructure in India," the doctor added.

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