This Article is From Dec 18, 2012

12 people blinded after cataract surgery goes wrong in Chhattisgarh

Raipur: A camp to remove cataract from the eyes of patients has gone horribly wrong in Chhattisgarh. 12 people have lost their vision after they were operated upon in Bagbahra, about 100 kilometres from state capital Raipur, allegedly due to the camp doctor's negligence.

The patients, mostly from the rural pocket, had undergone cataract surgeries on December 9 and 10.

Preliminary investigation suggests that they developed infection post-surgery.

The state government has shifted all the infected patients to the MGM Hospital in Raipur for better treatment.

The Chhattisgarh Health Minister has asked senior health official and eye expert Dr Subhash Mishra to investigate the matter and submit a report to the government within 10 days.

"We have removed infection from the eyes of nine patients. It is indeed a very sad incident. We have ordered a probe into the matter and state officials have been asked to submit a report within 10 days," said Amar Agarwal, Health Minister, Chhattisgarh.

"15 patients had come here, we have operated on three of them, we will try our best to save their eyesight, in case of the other 12 patients, the infection has spread and so we had to do whatever we could to remove the infection," said the doctor at MGM Hospital in Raipur.
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