Mumbai : 3 lose sight in an eye each after botched-up surgeries

Mumbai: Three people are feared to have lost sight in one eye after undergoing cataract surgery at the civic-run Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari on January 4. Another four patients, aged 50-75 years, are grappling with varying degrees of vision loss caused by an infection, suspected to be the deadly pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria.

An inquiry has been ordered into the botched surgeries of seven patients, who include five female patients. One of the patients is still at KEM Hospital, Parel. Barring one, the post-operative infection was spotted in six patients a day after the surgery. All were operated on the same day at the Jogeshwari hospital’s newly-built modular operation theatre. The infection was detected when the dressings were removed for examination. The hospital tried to manage the infection for a day, but later shifted the patients to KEM.

The committee comprising heads of departments from KEM and Cooper hospitals is investigating a lapse in routine infection-control protocols.

“Three patients have no vision in the operated eye as of now, while the other four have started regaining some sight ranging from feet to a few metres,” said a KEM doctor.

Only one patient has not recovered from the infection and, hence, continues to be admitted, the doctor said, adding the rest have been discharged.

Consultant eye surgeon Dr Arun Chaudhary, who operated on the patients, said his team observed something amiss the next day. “We immediately informed Cooper Hospital, which is our parent institution, and tried to control the infection with help from their experts,” he said, adding he performs at least 40 surgeries every month, but has never seen such complications before.

He added they immediately collected swabs from the affected patients and sent them for analysis. “It showed traces of pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is a serious infection,” he said. Swabs were also collected from the equipment and operation theatre, but the reports are not yet available.