Panipat SDM begins probe into botched eye surgeries : The Tribune India

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Panipat SDM begins probe into botched eye surgeries

PANIPAT: A magisterial inquiry to ascertain the causes that led to severe infection in the eyes of 14 patients after they were operated for cataract at Navjeewan Hospital in Panipat on March 11, began here on Sunday.



Dharmendra Joshi

Tribune News Service

Panipat, March 15

A magisterial inquiry to ascertain the causes that led to severe infection in the eyes of 14 patients after they were operated for cataract at Navjeewan Hospital in Panipat on March 11, began here on Sunday.

Confirming this, the inquiry officer, Panipat SDM Subhash Sheoran said he had recorded the statement of Dr Ankur Gupta today. Though Sheoran refused to divulge any information regarding Dr Gupta’s statement, he said he would likely complete his inquiry by Monday and would submit his report to DC Samir Pal Srow soon after.

Sheoran who is being assisted by Civil Surgeon Dr Inderjeet Dhankhar, two eye specialists and a microbiologist in conducting the inquiry, said he would also visit Navjeewan Hospital and the hospital in Samalkha being run by Samaj Sewa Samiti. Besides, he would also record statements of the Samiti chief Sohan Lal and all other concerned persons required for the inquiry, he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Gupta said he suspected that a bottle of ringer lactate eye drops used for the patients during their cataract surgeries on March 11 was infectious, which possibly caused complications. He said he had already sent the samples of the eye drops to a private laboratory for its examination, whereas the district health authorities had also taken its samples and sent it to a government laboratory for examination.

Dr Gupta said two different bottles were used for administering the eye drops to the patients on March 11 and possibly only one bottle was infectious, that was why four of the 18 patients did not suffer from infection.

Further in reply to a question, Dr Gupta said he had been practising as an eye surgeon for the last decade and had done around 15,000 surgeries so far and not even a single case of medical negligence occurred. He said he had also done operations of several patients in the same operation theatre on March 12, but those patients suffered no complication.

Denying that any eye camp was organised on March 11, Dr Gupta said he had been associated with the Samalkha-based samiti for the last six-seven years and was doing surgeries every Tuesday since then at its Samalkha-based hospital where a dentist, physician and a gynaecologist also check patients.

On March 11, operations were done at his Navjeewan Hospital as the Samalkha Hospital was not properly fumigated. Dr Gupta added, a few months ago he had performed cataract surgeries on the same patients, and they had been successful.

Corroborating his statement, Subhash Chandra of Bhorwal Majri village told The Tribune that her mother Pasi Devi’s other eye had been successfully operated by the same doctor, through the same society about three months ago.

Similarly Kamla of Kivana village said her mother-in-law Shanti Devi’s second eye had been successfully operated by Dr Gupta through the Samalkha-based society about three years ago. That time, the society did not take any money, she added.

However, both Pasi Devi (70) and Shanti Devi (80) are now among those 14 patients who developed severe infection, and are now admitted at the Advanced Eye Centre in PGIMER, Chandigarh.

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