Resident alleges fungus in eye drops, files complaint

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 20

Veena Garg, a local resident, has filed a complaint with the Punjab Health Minister over what she claimed was ‘duplicate and fungal infected eye drops’ being sold in the open market without any check. She has also filed a complaint with the Punjab Human Rights Commission and the Health Department in Bathinda on the issue.

“I have no malice towards anyone but the matter should be taken seriously to avoid such cases in which people lose their eyesight after being operated upon in eye surgery camps. In Gurdaspur, dozens of people lost their eyesight after being operated upon at a free-eye surgery camp,” she said.

Veena Garg, principal of Bhai Bhagu Girls College, Bhagtuana, Jaitu, said, “I had purchased a bottle of ‘Diamond Eye Drops’ sealed with bill no. 7845, batch no s-d, date of manufacturing 01/2016 and expiry date as 12/2018. It carried fungus in it. The cost was not a matter of concern as it was only Rs 25 but I brought it to the notice of the medical shop owner. Later, I felt that the matter should be brought to the notice of the company but they did not even bother to listen and rebuked me.”

However, Kashmiri Lal, manager of Diamond Eye Drops, said, “We have won more than ten such cases in the court where consumers complained about fungus in the eye drops. This is natural as fungus attack is witnessed in these eye drops. It is only Gulaab-jal which faces this fungus attack when kept in low or high temperature than normal as mentioned on the eye drop veil. It should neither be kept in refrigerator nor in intense heat.”