The administration has ruled out negligence on the part of the doctors or paramedical staff.
At least seven people who underwent a cataract surgery at a government hospital in Hyderabad last week may lose vision in one of their eyes. Doctors at the prestigious Sarojini Devi Government Eye Hospital blame it on a solution used during surgery. The infection was detected the very next day of the surgery but it is a rare superbug that did not respond to antibiotics, say doctors.
The hospital says 21 people underwent cataract surgery last Thursday. All those operated in Operation Theatre 2 were affected. The common factor doctors found was a bottle of sodium lactate, called RL solution that they say was used for all 13 patients. The administration has ruled out negligence on the part of the doctors or paramedical staff.
Dr Rajender Gupta, Deputy Superintendent of the hospital, says he is hopeful that six of the 13 infected will regain sight.
"The culture of both the eye infection as well as the bottle shows the same bacteria. That is clear evidence that bottle is responsible for patients' infection. Because that was the common factor," says Dr Gupta.
Relatives of patients allege that they were kept in the dark about complications. There are no case sheets or prescription forms given to the patients or their attendants.
Raju, whose mother has lost vision in her right eye, says the doctor had said there was nothing they could do as it was not their mistake. "Doctor told me it is like a road accident, we must understand that nothing much can be done about it," says Raju.
Local legislator Jaffar Hussain and corporator Ayesha Rubina point out that there are serious lapses in treatment protocol.
Surgeries have been stopped at the hospital pending investigation. About 540 bottles of the solution suspected to the source of infection has been seized by drug inspectors. Other hospitals have also been warned to avoid using that batch of the solution.
The Telangana government has ordered a probe in addition to the probe ordered by the hospital management. All those who it is feared may become blind in one eye, are elderly people, not very well off. Activists point out that they need to be adequately compensated for this loss.