Gujarat: 17 patients complain of vision loss after cataract surgery; Investigation ordered

At least 17 people have complained of partial or complete loss of vision after undergoing cataract surgery at a trust-run hospital in Ahmedabad district, prompting authorities to order an investigation, an official said here on Tuesday.

Deputy Director (Health and Medical Services) Satish Makwana said, Gujarat Health and Family Welfare Department has constituted a nine-member expert committee to investigate and the Eye Hospital of Mandal village has been asked not to conduct any cataract surgeries till further orders. Said. ), Ahmedabad area.

He said that this matter came to light when five people who had undergone surgery at Mandal’s Ramanand Eye Hospital on January 10, were sent to the ophthalmology department of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for treatment on Monday.

“Twenty-nine people had undergone cataract surgery at the Mandal Hospital on January 10, and 17 of these developed complications and complained of vision loss. Five seriously affected patients were referred to Ahmedabad, while 12 were admitted to the same Ramanand Eye Hospital,” Makwana told reporters in the division.

He said specialist doctors were deputed to hospitals in Ahmedabad and Mandal to treat and examine the affected patients.

Makwana said the divisional hospital has performed around 100 cataract surgeries this month, and a camp has been set up in Viramgam town to check the complications of all these patients.

Speaking to reporters at the divisional hospital, two women, among the 12 patients undergoing treatment, said they had completely lost their vision.

Another woman said the hospital had charged Rs 3,100 from each patient for the surgery. Dr. Somesh Aggarwal of M&J Institute of Ophthalmology of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, who was included in the expert committee, also reached the board.

“We are examining every patient to check the extent of the damage and collecting samples of the medicines given to them after the surgery,” Aggarwal told reporters.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)