Daily India,March 21, 2007
From our Correspondent
Bhawanipatna (Orissa), Mar 20: Six villagers from Naria village in Orissa have lost vision of one of the eyes after undergoing cataract surgery at a government-run hospital.Six persons, including two men and four in the Kalahandi district, had undergone cataract surgery, on January 22."We went in on Sunday and we were operated on Monday. I do not know how they operated, but after a day, my eye started hurting. We had no knowledge of the procedure. But now I cannot see," said Jagannath Majhi, a patient.
One eye was already bad, now the second one is irreparably damaged, he added. The other patients too are worried about a potential loss of livelihood. Most of them are over sixty years of age and have little or nothing to fall back upon.Doctor Bharat Bandhu Panda, the surgeon who operated on the villagers, has denied the charge of medical negligence.
Panda claims that the patients did not heed medical advice and proceeded to their ill-equipped and non-sterile homes."I think that had these patients stayed in the hospital for the duration we had specified. We could have saved their eyesight. Without any proper instructions, guidance or medication, they have left the hospital," said Panda.The police station at Bhawanipatna has registered a complaint forwarded by the villagers and Sisir Kumar Sahu, the Inspector-in-charge of the station, said that legal proceedings are on.
"We have received a complaint alleging medical negligence on the part of the doctors by persons operated upon for cataract surgery. We have written to the CDMO (Chief District Medical Officer) for details of whether there was any medical negligence, and if any, by whom," Sahu said. Orissa's Kalahandi region is known worldwide for its state of underdevelopment. Medical care in remote villages of the state is almost non-existent and poor people who cannot access expensive care in faraway towns are dependent on state-run health centers.
Copyright Dailyindia.com/ANI
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