11 go blind after cataract surgery in Punjab

New Delhi: Authorities ordered an investigation Friday after at least 11 poor and elderly people went blind following cataract surgeries performed at a free medical camp run by a charity in Punjab.

The operations were performed 4 November on dozens of patients over 50 years old from both Amritsar and nearby Gurdaspur, in Punjab, said Ravi Bhagat, a top official in Amritsar city.

Some of the patients reported this week that they’d lost their eyesight or were suffering infections, Bhagat said.

Doctors in Amritsar are treating some of the patients. Police have launched an investigation, and detained at least one doctor in Gurdaspur.

Every year, thousands of people, especially in rural areas without proper health facilities, undergo cataract operations in medical camps held by health authorities and welfare groups.

The case once again highlighted the perilous state of health care in India, where hundreds of millions of poor people without access to doctors or health insurance are forced to seek treatment at medical camps because of poor services and corruption at government hospitals.

Last month, 13 women died after allegedly taking tainted drugs after undergoing simple sterilization surgeries in Chhattisgarh.