It is a case that may as well be a medical miracle. After a bear attack that was almost fatal for a woman in Rajasthan, one of her eyes was gouged out and later recovered from a forest after 14 hours in a ”preserved” condition. Doctors say the wild animal removed the victim’s eye with the precision of a skilled doctor. They add that the eye may be donated for a transplant later.
The victim, 50-year-old Santosh Rajput has been struggling for her life at Global Hospital in Mount Abu. Doctors say her condition is stable.
“We presume the eye fell on a dry branch of a tree when a female bear attacked her,” said Dr Sudhir Singh, an eye specialist at the hospital who treated her injured eye.
“It happened like a miracle, the eye was found on a tree branch like someone had cautiously put it there,” said Dr Singh. “In the 14 hours that the eye was there, the site of incident reported mild showers which worked like distilled water to protect the organ,” Dr Singh said.
The incident occurred on Saturday when the victim, along with her grandson was returning from a temple in forest area near Mount Abu. They encountered a female bear which was with its cubs. The bear attacked Santosh Rajput while the 8-year-old grandson ran away and sounded the alarm. Hearing his screams, people were quick to reach at the site and pushed the animal back to the forest.
According to the doctors, the removed eye was found at the site when Santosh’s son Kishore visited the site to recover his mother’s lost cellphone. He found the eye on a tree branch and so he put it in a plastic cover and took it to the hospital. “Her nerves and tissues have been damaged to such an extent that the eye cannot be restored to her, but the cornea in the recovered eye is safe and can be used in restoring the vision of someone else,” Dr Singh said.
According to the doctors, her family has given the consent to have the eye donated and be used to light someone’s life.
“We preserved the eye with an eye bank and hope it will restore someone’s light,” Dr Singh said.
Mount Abu is the popular hill station in the Aravalli range under Sirohi district in Rajasthan. It is surrounded by a wild life sanctuary.
The history of Mount Abu indicates presence of tiger last reported in 1970. But now there are sambhars, jungle cats, wolves ,hyena, jackals, foxes and wild boars in the area.