Four lose vision after cataract surgery in Nellore

The Andhra Pradesh health minister D. Nagender has ordered a probe into the botched cataract surgeries stating, "Losing eyesight is like losing life. If it is a case of negligence we'll take action."

The Bollineni Eye Hospital and Research Centre had organized a free camp offering cataract treatment at Gangapatnam village and Kothur in Indukurpet mandal in the district on Oct. 18 last week.

Following a preliminary check-up, the doctors performed surgery on 30 patients, including a few women.

Blurred sight for some post surgery
Trouble started brewing after a few patients complained of burning sensation around the eyes and blurred sight.

Initially, they were shifted to Bollineni Hospital, but when symptoms of infection persisted, they were shifted to Sankara Nethralaya Hospital in Chennai for further treatment.

A victim said, "First the Bollineni hospital in Nellore asked us to come for further treatment and then when the pain increased and the infection spread they referred us to other hospitals in Chennai."

As the condition of the patients deteriorated the doctors admitted that the chances of restoring their vision were bleak. Since, the infection could spread to other parts of the body, the eyeballs of the four patients were removed in order to save their lives.

The relatives are laying the blame squarely on the doctors at Bollineni for the catastrophe, demanding serious action to be taken against them.

"We have launched the probe. We have directed the hospital authorities to stop all operations till the probe is completed," stated Nellore district collector K Ramgopal.

Hospital authorities defensive
The hospital authorities refuted that negligence in the surgical procedure was responsible for the tragedy.

N Sai Murali, chief ophthalmologist at the hospital termed the incident as unfortunate. He declared that in the last six years 45,000 cataract surgeries were performed at the hospital without a single mishap.

He said that medical staff had adhered to all the necessary precautions. The infection was beyond the control of the doctors and could have been caused by many reasons including the solution used in the operations.

He said, “We have sent the samples to the government labs for testing. We are sparing no efforts to save the eyesight of the six patients.”