Rajasthan: 18 complain of eyesight loss after surgery at government hospital

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India]: Eighteen people allegedly lost their eyesight in one eye after an operation at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, which is the biggest government hospital in Rajasthan.

The alleged loss of eyesight happened after they underwent a cataract operation. Most of them were operated on under the Rajasthan government’s Chiranjeevi health scheme.

One patient said, “I had an operation on June 23 and had eyesight till July 5, everything was visible but from 6-7th July the eyesight went away. After which the operation was done again but the eyesight did not come back.”

The patient said that doctors told him that the cause of the loss of eyesight is infection and efforts are being made to cure the infection.

When the patients complained of severe eye pain, the hospital authorities asked them to get themselves readmitted to the hospital. However, even after they underwent surgery again – some of them underwent surgery more than two times – they could not regain their lost vision.

But the authorities of the Opthalmology Department of the hospital claimed that there was no lapse on their part, and added that an investigation was going on after they received the complaints from the patients.