Dumka: At least one dozen people are reported to have allegedly gone blind after undergoing cataract surgery at a private hospital in Barharwa block headquarters of the Sahibganj district.
Health minister Banna Gupta directed the officials concerned to conduct a probe into the matter in a tweet. The victims belonged to different villages of the Barharwa block.
Following Gupta’s tweet, Sahibganj civil surgeon Dr Arvind Kumar on Saturday ordered a probe into the incidents.
Talking to TOI over the phone, Kumar said, “The health minister informed me about the incidents over the phone on Friday night as none of the victims turned up to complain about their visual loss after undergoing cataract surgeries. I rushed to Barharwa soon after getting the call from the minister to have first-hand information about the matter.”
Later, Kumar constituted a six-member committee headed by the district tuberculosis officer, Dr Thomas Murmu, and Dr Sarita Kumari Tudu, the medical officer (in-charge) of the community health centre of Barharwa, Dr Iqbal Ansari, the eye specialist at the Sahibganj sadar hospital, Dr Rajkumar Sah, an eye specialist at the Rajmahal sub-divisional hospital, Amit Kumar, the district data manager, and Pravin Kumar Saxena, a clerk at Sahibganj civil surgeon’s office as members, to probe the incident.
He said, “I have directed the committee to submit its probe report within 24 hours. Proper action will be taken against those found guilty.
“The management of the private hospital has taken three persons to Kolkata for treatment of the visual loss and the exact number of the victims is yet to be ascertained,” Kumar added.
The civil surgeon also said the victims were the beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat and they underwent the operation at the Jharkhand Sewa Sadan, a private hospital. The surgeries are reported to have taken place at the private hospital between October 5 and October 7 and were conducted by a Bengal-based eye surgeon, Dr H K Vishwash.
Rural development minister and Pakur MLA Alamgir Alam have forwarded the names of four victims to Kumar.
The victims had turned up to the private hospital on Friday for removal of the bandages and realised that they have lost their vision. Following their loss of vision, their attendants and relatives resorted to vandalism at the hospital.
