Amritsar: Fifteen Indians Blinded After Surgery With Suspected Infected Tools

[dholki]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/11275517/Fifteen-Indians-blinded-after-surgery-with-suspected-infected-tools.html

Fifteen Indians blinded after surgery with suspected infected tools Criminal investigation launched against NGO and doctors who carried out cataract operations without consulting health authorities

Joginder Singh, Payar Kaur and Joginder Singh (from left) are among the patients who lost their eyesight after undergoing surgery at an eye camp in Amristar Photo: NARINDER NANU/AFP/GETTY

By Reuters

1:23PM GMT 05 Dec 2014

Fifteen Indians lost their sight after a doctor used suspected infected equipment to remove cataracts at a free eye surgery camp, the latest incident to highlight the dangers of shoddy medical treatment in the country.

A criminal investigation has been launched against the non-governmental organisation and the doctors who carried out the operations, mainly on elderly women, without consulting health authorities.

The government is trying to check the condition of 45 other patients operated on at the camp in Punjab state in northern India, according to Rajiv Bhalla, a senior government surgeon in the city of Amritsar, where the patients are being treated.

"The cause was probably using unsterilised instruments – that can be the only reason for the infection in the eye," said Bhalla. "There are no chances of them having their vision restored."

Calls to the organisation that organised the camp and the hospital where it took place went unanswered.

The botched operations draw attention to the poor state of health care in India, which has one of the lowest rates of public spending on medical care anywhere, according to the World Health Organization.

Last month, at least 13 women died after treatment at an unhygienic mass sterilisation camp in central India. An independent investigation found the doctor used the same needle on each patient and staff never changed their gloves.

The mishandled surgeries at the eye camp were discovered when the 15 patients came to a government office on Wednesday asking for medicine and financial help. The operations took place in a village outside Amritsar in early November.

"They were very upset and helpless," said Ravi Bhagat, the deputy commissioner of Amritsar. "It took them a while to come to see us because they never knew it was going to be such a serious issue."

India has the world's largest number of blind people and cataracts are one of the leading causes of people losing their sight, according to Sightsavers, a British charity. In order to combat the problem, mass cataract camps are organised.

"It is just a minor surgery, the results are normally very good," said Bhalla. "This should never have happened."

[ekgurjaskhalsa]

So sad.

[DailyMail]

I hope they investigate this and hold those responsible to account. Absolutely shocking!

[jkvlondon]

I hope they investigate this and hold those responsible to account. Absolutely shocking!

Couldn't Guru HarKrishan eye hospital step in and help these people instead of relying on such dodgy mobile doctors?

[hsingh8963]

Waheguru....

[DailyMail]

My local gurudwara, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Hounslow, has been sponsoring eye camps for many years, in various districts across Punjab. I've always been sceptical, to be honest. Ophthalmic surgery is by its very nature, tremendously delicate microsurgery requiring utmost sterile environments and clinical standards of the highest order. By sponsoring such eye camps, we in the west may be indirectly guilty of facilitating such disasters. It would be far better to facilitate/fund such operations to be performed in local hospitals that adhere to such standards.

[JagsawSingh]

My local gurudwara, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Hounslow, has been sponsoring eye camps for many years,

'Sponsoring' is not necessarily the right word.Hounslow Singh Sabha don't actually pay for anything. Individual members of the local sangat sponsor the camps in their ancestoral villages (through Hounslow Singh Sabha) , they then tell everyone what great people they are and Hounslow Singh Sabha tell everyone what a great institution they are. The actual patients are just pawns in their self-publicity game. They matter little.

One thing this tragic incident proves, is that whilst the sponsors here may be giving up their money and time nobody in Punjab itself is giving away anything for free. Despite the seemingly good intentions those working on the frontline at these camps (doctors and nurses) are still your typical greedy, dirty and ammoral Punjabis, doing it for money.

It is desperately sad that it has taken such an awful tragedy for us to realise what is going on. From now on, Sikh charities in the west that set up these camps in Punjab must ensure that they take their own doctors and clinicians with them. The danger, of course, is that this tragedy will put off many overseas Sikhs from sponsoring these much needed, and relatively cheap eye camps.

[pangaphish]

A Singh from my local Gurdwara said this was a Khalsa Aid run camp. Is this true?