Cataract surgery botch-up: Docs knew about infection, says probe panel

INDORE: A state-appointed committee probing loss of vision among 15 people after cataract surgery at Indore Eye Hospital has found that doctors performed the surgeries despite having information that infection had set in among people operated there earlier.
The team has submitted its report to collector Lokesh Kumar Jatav, who has recommended to the principal secretary (health) that the hospital may not be allowed to perform any surgery in the future.
The probe - conducted by a team of surgeons, the chief medical officer and administrative officials - found that the doctors at Indore Eye Hospital were aware of cataract surgery patients contracting post-surgical infection on August 6. "Of the eight patients operated upon on August 5, four have told the surgeons about swelling of the eye, indicating bacterial infection, a day after the surgeries," ADM Kailash Wankhade, who leads the probe, told TOI on Wednesday.
Despite the information, the doctors operated on other patients in the same OT and even held a cataract surgery camp on August 8, says the probe team. Fourteen patients were operated upon, 11 of whom were later found to have contracted bacterial infection, the ADM said.