Dr. Rajkumar trust for the needy

A trust has been formed in the name of Kannada Movie icon Dr. Rajkumar which was announced on his birthday by Ms. Parvathamma Rajkumar, wife of the actor and also the Chairman of the trust.

The initial fund of Rs.5 lakhs has been donated by the family members of Dr. Rajkumar and the trust will be involved in many developmental activities like education, health, culture, alleviation of poverty, organizing blood donation camps and encourage eye donation exercises.

The formation of trust was announced by Ms. Parvathamma Rajkumar and her sons yesterday. The trust"s affairs will be handled by Raghavendra Rajkumar who is also the secretary and treasurer of the trustee. Puneet Rajkumar is one of the members of the trustee. The trust will have an advisory committee which includes noted literary personality Baragooru Ramachandrappa, Dr. Bhujanga Shetty, Vasu of the Green House, Thimme Gowda and Dr. Ramana Rao who was the personal physician of the movie icon.

Mr. Bhujanga Shetty, CEO of Narayana Nethralaya and who is in charge of the Dr. Rajkumar Eye Donation trust said that the icon's decision to donate his eyes after his death has provided a great impetus and push towards eye donation exercises.

“Before his death, we used to have fifty people signing the contract for eye donation in the Narayana Nethralaya. In the last year this has increased to over four hundred percent and more than 240 people have agreed to donate their eyes. Dr. Raj Kumar's decision to donate his eyes has generated a greater interest in the people to donate eyes throughout the state and if there is an increase of four hundred percent in our Hospital, I think it would have similarly increased in other eye centers. Earlier the eye transplantation requirements were done after a long time because of the unavailability of eyes, but now in our Hospital we are doing eye transplantations immediately as it becomes necessary. Because we have sufficient stock of eyes," said Bhujanga Shetty.

Raghavendra Rajkumar said that Dr. Rajkumar"s family is taking a step further in the direction of realising his dreams, which included giving something back to the society by forming the trust.

Baragooru Ramachandrappa maintained that the trust is owned by the family and headed by Ms. Parvathamma Rajkumar. The trust wants to enhance and spread its activities in various fields, but initially it will be focusing on health segment. The Dr. Rajkumar trust will focus on eye donation and also in blood donation camps initially. Since Dr. Rajkumar belonged to entire state, it was felt that the trust's work should spread throughout the state' he added.

A gold and silver coin will be minted with the photograph of Dr. Rajkumar on the occasion of his birthday and it will be released on next month end. This coin will be done by a Hongkong based company. Among the Film artists in India, only Dr. Shivaji Ganeshan Gold coin has come out till now.