16 complain of vision loss; med team dispatched, says govt

Sixteen patients who underwent cataract surgery at a government hospital in Salem district have complained of loss of vision even asgovernment said it was due to a temporary eye infection and that a medical team had been dispatched to look into the issue.
The patients were among 23 who went to the eye camp at Government Hospital, Mettur on June 15. They were asked to come back the next day for cataract surgery.
The patients lost their eyesight two days after that, family members of one of the victims said.
"We came to the eye camp on June 15. They (medical team) asked my grandmother to come for surgery the next day. Two days after that, there is no vision in her eye," a relative to one of the victims told reporters in Mettur.

Reacting to the incident, the government said a team has been dispatched to identify the cause of the matter.
"About 23 people participated in the eye camp and 16 of them underwent cataract surgery. It isa temporary vision loss. We do not know what is the reason that led to the eye infection," the official told PTI on condition of anonymity.

He said a team comprising ophthalmologists and doctors had already been sent to the hospital for a further probe.
The official said Health Minister C Vijaya Bhaskar, who is already in Coimbatore, would visit the affected patients in Salem tomorrow to get first hand information.

He said the medical team would identify the cause of the incident, only after which they would be able to know what led to possible temporary vision loss.
"We will able to know about it in a day or two," he said.