40 Indians blinded by eye surgery

At least 40 people, mostly women, have lost vision in one or both eyes after free cataract surgery at a state run hospital in southern India.

The patients, who are poor villagers, contracted a fungal infection caused by unsterilised equipment used during the surgery, said a senior doctor at the eye hospital near Madurai, 280 miles south of Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu state.

“Most of them started feeling severe pain in their operated eyes and came streaming into the hospital three days after the surgery,” said Balakrishna Rao, the hospital dean.

“We are treating them for severe fungal infection. It would be difficult to say how much of their eyesight can be restored,” he said.

Cataracts are a common ailment among old people that cloud the eye lens, causing partial or total blindness. In most cases vision can be restored through simple surgery.

The villagers were operated on at an “eye camp” at the hospital last week part of the local government’s efforts to help villagers in remote areas. Rao said it was difficult to ensure hygiene when doctors were conducting numerous operations in quick succession.

“Free eye camps for cataract may appear a great service but it is always difficult to ensure the required sterility in the operation theatre or during postoperative care, which leads to such complications,” said Rao.