india

Updated: Aug 23, 2019 12:46 IST

Ashok Jain, who gifted sight to hundreds of blind people in the past 12 years, is now in need of serious medical attention. Sadly, there is little help to be found.

Jain, born in Punjab’s Moga district , is known as the “Eye Man” for giving donors’ eyes to medical institutions for transplant. But he is now fighting for his own life for the past six months, as he battles oesophageal (food pipe) cancer.

His family is sad that no help is forthcoming to get him treated after Jain dedicated his whole life to helping others. The walls of the family’s single-room accommodation in UP’s Saharanpur are full of certificates of admiration, appreciation from political leaders and officials. A poster displayed at the gate of Jain’s Roshni Eye Bank, in Preet Vihar locality of Saharanpur, shows actress Kaynat Arora as its “brand ambassador”.

Jain’s son, Sooraj, said: “People come here, click pictures, express sympathy and vanish after giving hollow assurances. My father has been diagnosed with cancer of the food pipe and for the past four months he is surviving on liquid diet and on ayurvedic treatment because we can’t afford expensive treatment in a hospital.”

Jain started extracting eyes of donors after their death since 2002, and so far, he has extracted 648 eyes which were transplanted to blind persons. His only wish is to extract the last eye before his death. “He is bedridden for four months, therefore, information about eye donors has also stopped coming in,” said Sooraj.

He rued that a few politicians assured providing the PM’s Ayushman health insurance card during the elections but didn’t turn up thereafter.

Saharanpur divisional commissioner Sanjay Kumar is the only ray of hope for Jain and his family. He came to know about Jain’s condition and immediately directed the additional director of health and city magistrate to visit him and make arrangements for his treatment.

On his initiative, Jain was admitted to a private hospital on Thursday morning and the happy family has only gratitude for the commissioner’s gesture. “I will personally meet him to thank for his help,” said Sooraj.

Kumar, however, said: “What I did was my duty and responsibility for a person who dedicated his life to gifting sight to hundreds of blind people”. He assured of providing Jain with the best possible treatment.

Ashok Jain has now been admitted to a private hospital in Saharanpur after the Saharanpur divisional commissioner came to know about him. ( HT Photo )

Jain’s father was a boxer in the Indian Royal Navy. Fascinated by his father’s life, he too became a boxer. He sustained injuries during a fight in the ring and lost his eyesight. He went through the plight of a blind person until a donated eye brought his sight back. Since then, he dedicated his life to bringing light into the life of the visually impaired.

As a young athlete, he went on a cycle “yatra” across the country to encourage people to donate their eyes after death. He collected the filled-up forms of willing persons and deposited them with officials of Rotary Club and other clubs of respective districts, so that they could have a record of persons willing to donate their eyes.

While going around in Baghpat district on a cycle “yatra”, he met a young girl, Kusum. They fell in love and got married. As few of his relatives were settled in Saharanpur, they decided to make Saharanpur their home and the couple were blessed with a son, Sooraj.

Meanwhile, Jain did a paramedical course for extraction of eyes from LLRM Medical College Hospital in Meerut and the couple established Roshni Eye Bank in a single room in Saharanpur. They banked upon individual funding to meet their financial requirements. “My father had a cycle and he used to go 10 km to collect a fund of mere ₹10 but he never gave up hope,” Sooraj recalled.

Sooraj’s wife, Anshu, who takes care of her father-in-law said: “Eyes need to be extracted with six hours of death, therefore, both my in-laws used to cover long distances on cycle, even at night, to retrieve the eyes of a donor.”

A person donated them a motorcycle and the couple then started going on it. On one such night of August 2011, when the couple was on the way to extract eyes of a donor, they met with an accident and Kusum died on the spot.

Jain was deeply shaken by her death but resumed work after a few days of mourning. Meanwhile, impressed by his dedication and honesty for his work the then Saharanpur district magistrate Alok Kumar advised him to form a trust and helped in setting up Roshni Eye Bank Charitable Hospital in Preet Vihar Colony of Saharanpur in 2010, under aegis of Roshni Eye Bank Trust and he is still patron of the trust. Here, eye patients get treatment at a nominal price of Rs 10 and for poor patients, it is free.

The family lives in a room of the hospital.

“We have no bank balance and property anywhere. My husband work as an electrician to earn livelihood for the family and he is ready to take up the challenges of eye extraction to carry on his father’s legacy,” said Anshu

Jain used to get Rs 500 for giving an extracted eye to a medical institute. But, he never complained about money and continued to work selflessly. “Half the money we received from medical institutions was spent on transportation,” said Anshu, who questioned: “What has he got from society after dedicating his life to the people?”