A committee, tasked with investigating the cases of 11 persons who had suffered significant vision impairment after undergoing cataract surgeries at the Indore Eye Hospital, has found negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of health officials and the hospital’s doctors.
A report, submitted by the three-member committee to the State government, found the patients were operated upon at the same operation theatre (OT) on August 8 where eight other patients underwent cataract surgeries on August 5 and developed infections the next morning.
“Seeing their swollen eyes, the doctors realised the surgeries were either botched or there had been infection in them. Knowing this, they shouldn’t have gone ahead with the surgeries days later. This shows their negligence,” said Additional District Magistrate Kailash Wankhede, who led the investigation along with two government doctors.
It was not the Chief Medical and Health Officers (CMHOs) of Dhar and Indore districts, whose patients underwent the surgeries, or the District Nodal Officer (DNO) of the National Programme for Control of Blindness who informed the government about the patients’ state. “The hospital’s Medical Director Sudhir Mahashabde informed the Health Department over the telephone,” said Mr. Wankhede.
“Despite their knowledge, both the CMHOs did not act to provide the patients better treatment,” he added.
Procedural lapses
Furthermore, said Mr. Wankhede, when DNO T.S. Hora received a letter from the Health Department on August 13 and visited the OT, he ordered that the programme be stopped in the district without informing the higher-ups about it.
“It was on the basis of news reports on August 17 that the Government Medical College in Indore got to know about the patients, who were subsequently shifted to the Choithram Hospital for better care,” said Mr. Wankhede.
Moreover, though Dr. Hora informed the committee that he had collected 38 swab samples from the OT and sent them to the Medical College for testing on August 13, it was found that the college received the samples only on August 19.
“As a result, the team hasn’t been able to ascertain the cause of the infections. It will take two-three more days for the tests to be completed,” said Mr. Wankhede.
The hospital’s negligence was evident, he said, as 18 patients had lost vision at a similar camp there in 2010-2011 . “It’s the same hospital and even the doctors are the same. The government had directed the police to register an FIR then. But unfortunately, it wasn’t registered,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has suspended Dr. Hora, who held the same post even in 2010, and a notice has been served on Indore CMHO Pravin Jadia. Action is yet to be taken against the Dhar CMHO.
