17 patients complain of vision loss after cataract surgery in Gujarat

As many as 17 persons 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 a probe, an official said here on Tuesday.

The Gujarat health and family welfare department has formed a nine-member expert committee to conduct an inquiry and also asked the eye hospital at Mandal village not to perform any more cataract surgeries until further orders, said Satish Makwana, deputy director (health and medical services), Ahmedabad region.

The matter came to light after five persons who underwent surgery at the Ramanand Eye Hospital at Mandal on January 10 were referred to the ophthalmology department at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Monday for treatment, he said.

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

Expert doctors were roped in at Ahmedabad and the Mandal-based hospitals to treat the affected patients and conduct an inquiry, he said.

The hospital in Mandal had performed nearly 100 cataract surgeries this month, Makwana said, adding that a camp has been set up at Viramgam town to screen all these patients for complications.

Talking to reporters at the hospital in Mandal, two women, who are among 12 patients undergoing treatment, said they had completely lost vision.

Another woman said the hospital had charged each patient Rs 3,100 for the surgery.

Dr Somesh Aggarwal of the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital's M and J Institute Of Ophthalmology, who is part of the expert committee, also reached Mandal.

"We are examining every patient to check the extent of damage and collecting samples of medicines they were given after the surgery," Aggarwal told reporters.