14 lose eyesight after botched cataract surgery in Maharashtra

As many as fourteen people from Washim in west Vidarbha may have lost their vision in one eye after an infection which was caught during cataract surgeries at a district hospital there, the Hindustan Times has reported. The incident puts the spotlight on the sorry state of health care in Maharashtra, particularly outside of metropolitan areas. The central government has now ordered a probe into the incident, CNN-IBN has reported.

A preliminary probe has pointed to the possibility of contaminated surgical instruments having been used, which may have led to a bacterial infection. At least 22 such persons have now said to have been brought to the JJ Hospital in Mumbai. The dean of the hospital, T P Lahane, has been quoted as saying that the hospital could restore vision in only three people.

The eye swabs taken from the patients established that pseudomonas, a highly infectious strain of bacteria resistant to most antibiotics, were present, a Mumbai Mirror report states.

The patients were initially said to have been admitted over a period of several weeks in the month of October. The first set of patients treated came back to the hospital in Washim, complaining of watery, red eyes, and blurred vision, according to the Mumbai Mirror report.

According to a report in the Marathi newspaper Loksatta, an inquiry has been ordered into the matter and six medical teams have been formed to examine 171 patients who underwent surgery at the hospital in Washim. On coming to know about the initial cases of infection, the hospital continued to conduct surgeries and referred the patients who had returned to a hospital in neighbouring Akola, instead of a medical facility in Mumbai, according to the report.

On coming to know about the incident on 29 October, Public health minister Deepak Sawant is said to have given the direction to refer the patients to JJ Hospital in Mumbai.