Haryana: 16 people lose vision after botched cataract surgery

At least 16 people suffered partial vision loss after undergoing cataract surgery at a charitable hospital at Maheshnagar in Ambala, officials said on Tuesday.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has ordered a departmental probe into the incident.

Ambala Senior Medical Officer (SMO) Dr Vinod Kumar Gupta said the charitable society 'Sarv Kalyan Sewarth Samithi' at Maheshnagar conducted the cataract operation on 16 patients on November 24.

"The society had no mandatory clearance from us to hold the camp. They had applied for permission in 2013, but it was denied by us as we first wanted to conduct an inspection of the hospital and get details of the surgeons who will conduct operations," he said.

"However, without permission they conducted the camp. Our team had raided the hospital but it is locked. Case had been registered in this connection by the police regarding negligence on the complaint of the SMO," he said.

Dr Gupta said these societies hold such camps as they get huge incentive amounting to Rs 1000 per person operated upon. He said most of the patients have now contacted PGI at Chandigarh for further treatment of their eyes. Sources at PGI said the condition of the eyes of the patient, who were operated upon, is bad.

A similar incident had taken place at Samalkha in Panipat in March in which 13 patients suffered from vision loss.