Diagnostics

Injection goes bad, eight need eye surgery

All patients reported blurred vision, pain and watery eyes, and eight of them required to undergo surgery at AIIMS.

Durgesh Nandan Jha ,
TNN

Updated On Apr 5, 2017 at 08:24 AM IST

NEW DELHI: At least 20 eye patients had to be rushed to AIIMS from Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital on Sunday after they were allegedly administered “contaminated” injections on Saturday.

All patients reported blurred vision, pain and watery eyes, and eight of them required to undergo surgery at AIIMS. The others are said to be stable after receiving primary medical aid but continue to be under observation, a doctor said.

The incident comes months after a newborn died and four turned critical at Lok Nayak, another hospital run by the Delhi government, as they were allegedly injected wrong concentrations of antibiotics.

Dr Atul Kumar, chief of RP Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS, said avastian — the drug administered to the eye patients — is classified as sight-saving and used all over the world. “In this case, it seems that the injections were contaminated which caused the reaction,” he said, adding that all patients had been sent back to GTB Hospital.

Dr Sunil Kumar, the medical director of GTB Hospital in east Delhi, told TOI that they had sent the sample of the injections to the microbiology lab for testing. “We are suspecting contamination but yet to determine what caused it,” he said.

All 20 patients “complained about blurred vision and mild pain during the follow-up on Sunday. We immediately called specialists and referred serious cases to AIIMS”, he said. Avastin is globally used to prevent blindness due to ageing, diabetes, hypertension and rupturing of blood vessels.

Jaswinder, whose brother was being treated at GTB Hospital for over a month, said, “My brother complained about pain and blurred vision following the injection. He continues to be under observation.”

The eye specialists at GTB Hospital claimed that two patients had already been discharged and others would also go home soon. However, a relative of another patient affected due to the drug reaction demanded that such incidents be investigated sincerely and strictest possible action be taken against those responsible.