Indian patients blinded in botched cataract operations

At least 22 people in north India have lost the sight in one eye days after undergoing free cataract surgery at a state-owned clinic, officials said today.

IS Srivastava, a senior health official in Uttar Pradesh state, said the patients, most of them aged between 60 and 70 years, were sent to a government hospital in the northern city of Lucknow when they complained of blurred vision, swelling and itching in their eyes.