After botched cataract surgeries, doctors forced to remove eyes of 2 women in MP

Doctors were forced to remove an eye each of two women to prevent the spread of infection following botched cataract surgeries at a private Indore hospital on August 5, a medical officer said on Monday.

The matter came to light on Sunday when relatives of the two women, Munni Bai Raghuvanshi, 60, and Radha Yadav, 45, met Madhya Pradesh health minister Tulsi Silawat and told him about it.

Silawat visited the hospital for inspection on Sunday after eleven patients, who had undergone the surgeries as part of the National Programme for Control of Blindness, lost their vision due to bacterial infection.

Raghuvanshi and Yadav came back to the hospital after coming to know about the botched up surgeries, said chief medical and health officer Praveen Jadia.

“According to reports of surgeries on the two women, the bacterial infection was spreading to other organs. Pus had developed in the eyes operated upon and to stop the spread of the infection to the brain, one of the infected eyes of both of them was removed,” said Jadia.

He added there is no possibility of corrective measures now. “However, they may undergo prosthetic surgery.”

Yadav’s brother, Ajay Yadav, said when the surgery went wrong, they thought it happened due to medical complications. “But later when the matter of 11 more patients came to light, we realised that it happened due to the negligence of the hospital staff.”

With the 11 patients, these two women were also shifted to Choithram Hospital in Indore for further treatment where Dr Rajeev Ranjan from Chennai is treating them.

After botched surgeries, the license of the private hospital has been cancelled and one officer of District Blindness Control Society has been suspended.

Indore Eye Hospital managing director Sudhir Mahashabde said the infection did not develop due to the negligence of doctors in surgeries. “However, the reason behind the same is yet to be ascertained as to how the eyes got infected with pseudomonas bacteria.”

First Published: Aug 19, 2019 23:47 IST