KARACHI: The family of a young man who passed away fighting kidney failure has donated corneas of the deceased to help two people regain their eyesight.
According to a press release issued by the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on Monday, 21-year-old Abdul Samad, a resident of Golimar, was a dialysis patient at SIUT since April last year. He developed kidney failure due to a genetically inherited family kidney ailment. His medical and family history never permitted him to undergo kidney transplant surgery.
The elder brother of Samad had also been a dialysis patient at SIUT since 2016. The two brothers used to come to the hospital together for their dialysis sessions.
Organ donation was also part of Samad’s family history, as his maternal uncle earlier received a kidney transplant at SIUT in 1986, with his mother donating her kidney to him. Samad’s mother, Pervin, is an employee at SIUT and works as a technologist in the pathology department. Samad had studied up to class five and helped his father at his shop.
“These personal losses inspired the family to do something meaningful to help others. They decided to donate Samad’s corneas for transplantation, giving two other people an opportunity to regain their sight and improve their lives,” the press release says.
SIUT has greatly appreciated the human gesture of courage of the family but also stressed the need for greater awareness about deceased organ donation, it adds.
Earlier this year, a team of SIUT experts transplanted corneas donated by Sher Ali Taheem, a 17-year-old student in Karachi. He was admitted to SIUT following a severe brain haemorrhage. Despite all possible medical efforts, he remained in the intensive care unit for two days before being declared brain dead.
Sher shared a deep and lifelong association with SIUT. At the age of eight, he underwent a kidney transplant at the institute, with his mother donating a kidney. The transplant functioned well for nearly 10 years. Then, however, he experienced graft rejection, became dialysis-dependent, and was awaiting a second transplant.
In that moment of heartbreaking loss, Sher’s family had demonstrated extraordinary courage by consenting to donate his corneas. The corneal transplant procedures were performed by the SIUT team on Jan 7, restoring sight and hope to two patients, a 45-year-old man and a 21-year-old student.
Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2026
