Largest Human Eye to promote organ donation

While the human eye formation made at the Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir in Madhusudanagar by 3,170 students, Rotaractors and Interactors of
D 3262, on April 10 is awaiting confirmation from the Guinness Book of World Records, DRR Smruti Ranjan Biswal is busy getting his team of Rotaractors across Odisha to sign the organ donation pledge. “Pehele hum (We first),” says the enthusiastic DRR. Rotaractors and Rotarians across the State are running a 90-day campaign to promote and register 10,000 organ donors.

Quoting a set of statistics, he says it is estimated that “every 17 minutes someone dies waiting for a transplant. Every 13 minutes someone is added to the waiting list. In India around 6,000 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. Only 34 people out of 1 crore donate organs. This is sad.” The decision to organise the event was taken in July 2017 when he stepped in as DRR, and his home club — RAC Byasabhoomi — took steps to create awareness on the subject. “Our sole objective is to sensitise people about the beauty of living even after death by donating organs. A single donor can make a difference to 50 lives,” says Biswal.

Our sole objective is to sensitise people about the beauty of living even after death by donating organs.

— Smruti Ranjan Biswal
District Rotaract Representative

After the initial approval from the Guinness Book of World Records “we had to send them the complete plan of action for pre-approval of the event; The counting method, the entry and exit lanes, medical facility for the participants, as we were making the formation with children, had to be charted out.” When finally, they got the approval, mock drills were arranged but only 25 per cent students turned up. “This made me a little anxious but at the next mock drill over 90 per cent of the participants showed up.”

On the D-Day, it was a sight to see the large crowd of participants, each wearing a black or white coloured T-shirt and a cap provided by RAC Byasabhoomi. They stood still for six whole minutes to create and break the previous record held by D 3000 in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, with 2,394 participants. Representatives from the Global Record Research Foundation confirmed and certified the record.

“We hope that this record will help in creating adequate awareness about organ donation,” he adds.