AHMEDABAD: Seventeen patients in Gujarat’s Viramgam village in Ahmedabad district have lost their vision partially following cataract surgery at a private trust-run hospital recently. The issue came to light after five patients were moved to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.
Ramanand Eye Hospital, owned by the Seva Niketan Trust, operated on 28 patients on January 10. Sources said 17 of them developed infection within a few days of the surgery in their affected eye and complained of partial blindness.
Cataract surgeries are performed in one eye at a time. If both eyes are affected, the procedure on the second eye is done after a gap of a few weeks.
“Five persons with critical eye difficulties have been transferred to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, while 12 people with lesser problems have been kept at the private hospital. All patients are being monitored,” said Satish Makwana, deputy director (health and medical services), Ahmedabad region.
The families of the patients blamed the doctors for negligence. Solanki Govind, whose wife lost vision after the surgery said: “We went to the hospital on the 10th of January for my wife’s cataract surgery. In the evening, the doctor allowed us to go home. On the third day, she lost her vision.”
He said they immediately contacted the doctors, who prescribed some eye drops. However, there was no improvement in her condition and she was admitted again on Monday.
On its part, the eye hospital denied any negligence on the doctors’ part during the surgical procedure. Narayan Dalwadi, vice-president of operations at Ramanand Eye Hospital, said the hospital has performed over 1 lakh operations over the past 40 years and there has not been a single complaint of negligence. Terming the latest post-surgery complication ‘a virus-related effect’, he said they are looking into all angles.
Nine-member team to investigate incident
The Gujarat government has appointed a nine-member team comprising doctors and officers to investigate the incident. The eye hospital has also been barred from performing any more cataract surgeries until further orders, said Satish Makwana, deputy director (health & medical services) for Ahmedabad region