Doctor penalised for improper eye surgery

The Maharashtra Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission has recently pulled up a Mulund-based ophthalmologist, Dr Ashlesh Gala, for a botched up cataract surgery which resulted in the loss of vision for one of his patient. The forum held that the doctor failed to take the preliminary precautions of conducting the mandatory medical tests for the consumer which resulted in vision-loss in one eye.

The commission has asked the doctor to pay a penalty amount of Rs 45,000 toward the complainant for his mistake. However, the patient, Gopal Joshi, is unhappy with the order and has decided to take the matter to the National Commission.

The commision's order read,"It cannot be disputed that the cataract surgery in modern day is a low-risk eye surgery as it is usually done with local anesthesia to numb the eye and then medicines are prescribed for relaxation of the patient. However, even though eye surgery has very low risk, many healthy people get a routine set of tests done before the surgey is conducted. In these cases, the tests don't change or make it safer but helps controlling blood pressure and sugar during the time of the surgery."

Meanwhile, Joshi's lawyer, Mangesh Nalawade, while speaking to DNA said, "Our plea was on the grounds of negligence as the medical papers say that there was a cornea tear of my client which lead to loss of his vision in one eye. But, the aspect of negligence was not considered by the Commission. We are definitely approaching the National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission and filing an appeal."