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.