Bhopal: Over a month after 11 elderly persons lost vision due to botched cataract surgeries in Indore, four patients who recently underwent similar surgeries at a district hospital in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh too have complained of losing vision.
Chhindwara district houses the assembly constituency of Chief Minister Kamal Nath as well as son Nakul Nath’s Lok Sabha constituency, which has been represented nine times by the CM himself in the past.
Taking cognizance of the matter, CM Kamal Nath has ordered a probe into the incident. Nath tweeted on Wednesday, “Probe has been ordered after the issue of failed cataract surgeries leading to loss of vision in Chhindwara came to the fore. Stern action will be initiated against those found guilty in the probe.
All efforts will be made to bring back the vision of the affected patients and entire cost of treatment will be borne by the government.”
According to informed sources, the cataract surgeries of the four patients, including an elderly woman was performed at Chhindwara District Hospital on September 25.
All four patients later claimed to have lost vision, but only two of them approached the doctors after it. However, when asked by doctors to get admitted at the hospital, they returned home.
According to Chhindwara district in-charge Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr S Sethi, “I came to know about the incident on Wednesday only. Three of the concerned patients are being sent to Bhopal, while the fourth patient is being treated by doctors in Chhindwara only. The fourth patient is responding well to medical treatment in Chhindwara, but if the need arises that patient will also be sent to Bhopal. In the case of the three patients being sent to Bhopal, two patients have reported 20 per cent improvement in vision,” Dr Sethi said.
However, the reasons behind the alleged loss of vision among the four patients can only be ascertained when they are thoroughly examined in Bhopal.
In August first week, 11 elderly patients from Dhar district who underwent free cataract surgeries under the National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB) at the Indore Eye Hospital, complained losing vision after the surgery.
A detailed probe was subsequently conducted into the matter, after which a criminal case was registered against the director and medical superintendent of the concerned hospital.