13 persons get eye infection after cataract surgery in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada
Dantewada (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): Thirteen persons have been admitted to a hospital in Raipur after they contracted an eye infection following cataract surgery at a government medical facility in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district, officials said on Monday.
This promoted the health department to order a probe into the matter following which three healthcare personnel, including the doctor who performed the cataract surgeries at the Dantewada district hospital, were suspended on Sunday.
The 13 patients from Dantewada were admitted to the Dr BR Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in state capital Raipur in the last five-six days and they are under treatment, the medical facility's public relations officer Shubhra Thakur said.
Their condition is stated to be stable as of now, she said.
All the 13 persons who got the eye infection underwent cataract surgery at the Dantewada district hospital between October 18 to 22, Dantewada Collector Mayank Chaturvedi told PTI.
"When one-two cases came to light, we launched an exercise to trace the patients who underwent surgeries at the hospital in the last 15-20 days to examine the condition of their operated eyes. We covered 80 patients, and 13 of them have so far been found to be suffering from infection in their operated eye," he said.
Despite learning on October 20 about the infection to a patient who was operated on October 18, the doctor concerned continued performing surgeries till October 22 and allegedly did not inform senior authorities about the case, the official said.
The Dantewada district hospital has four operation theatres and the target is to operate 20 cataract patients every week, he said.
"So far, we have examined patients operated between October 10 and October 22. We will continue the tracing exercise and examine the condition of patients operated before October 10," he said.
After the matter came to light, the health department constituted a team to investigate it.
The probe team found that standard protocols for cataract surgery were not properly followed and the operation theatre was not properly sanitised before the surgeries, an official said.
Prime facie, negligence was found on the part of the hospital's eye surgeon Dr Geeta Netam, eye assistant officer Dipti Toppo and staff nurse Mamta Vaide, state Health and Family Welfare Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal told reporters on Sunday.
The three persons were placed under suspension with immediate effect on Sunday, he said.
The Dantewada district hospital superintendent has been issued a show notice, seeking his reply in this connection, he said.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel targeted the state government and in a post on 'X' said "again botched eye surgery incidents have started in the BJP government."
"The same thing happened during previous BJP rule. Such an incident did not happen even once in our government (referring to his party rule between 2018-2023). Vishnu's (Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai) good governance has been proved useless and unsuccessful," Baghel claimed.
The Congress has constituted a six-member team headed by its Bastar MLA Lakheshwar Baghel for a probe into the incident.
During the previous BJP governments headed by Raman Singh, there had been several cases of patients contracting eye infection after cataract surgeries.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bumrah leads India to its biggest Test win on Australian soil
Perth (PTI): Jasprit Bumrah led a feisty bunch of Indian cricketers to their most dominant Test victory on Australian soil, winning by a massive 295 runs in a remarkable turnaround that will find a pride of place among the country's golden moments in international cricket.
The stand-in skipper led by example with a match-haul of 8/72 as India bowled out the hosts, who were in pursuit of a mammoth 534, for 238 in 58.4 overs on the fourth afternoon of the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy here.
The victory propelled India back to the top of the World Test Championship standings with 61.11 percentage points.
India's previous biggest winning margin in terms of runs was 222 during a 1978 game in Sydney when Australia played an under-strength side due to mass exodus for the Kerry Packer World Series.
India are now 1-0 up in the five-Test series with regular skipper Rohit Sharma ready to take over during the Day/Night game starting December 6 in Adelaide.
While Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul will be among the heroes with their solid second innings batting performances, it was Bumrah's unbelievable skill-set and self belief during Australia's first innings rout that formed the cornerstone of India's win.
Not many teams have come back after being 150 all-out on the first day but this Indian team has time and again showed that it is built different.
Prior to the Test, Bumrah spoke about embracing challenges and he did walk the talk during all four days.
It was evident from the manner in which he allowed Mohammed Siraj (match haul of five wickets), debutants Harshit Rana (match haul of four wickets) and Nitish Reddy (41 and 37 not out and one wicket) bowl from the Member's End so that they can get extra help due to the ball keeping very low.
Washington Sundar (two wickets and 29 runs), who was preferred after the team management felt that Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja with 850 plus Test wickets between them, would not be as effective on this track, also did his bit in mopping up the tail.
The victory will bear greater significance because of India's shocking 0-3 whitewash at home by New Zealand.
With three of their automatic first team selections in skipper Rohit, talented Shubman Gill and bowling artist Mohammed Shami ruled out due to different reasons, Bumrah, leading in only his second Test, was left with a lot to do and less options to work with.
Gabba 2021 evokes nostalgia for every Indian cricket fan but Perth 2024 will certainly be right up there considering that no one, save those eleven and the few others in that change room, could have believed that something like this is possible.
Often the job of deputies in cricket is an understated one but it is all about making it easy for the general in charge.
Rahul Dravid had tirelessly done that for Sourav Ganguly during their time and as Rohit Sharma checked-in, he would know that his deputy has at lest tried to remove the ton of pressure on his chest after the home series debacle.
Gambhir Moves
===========
Credit must also go to head coach Gautam Gambhir, who copped a lot of flak after the defeat to the Black Caps and it was widely believed that rookies Reddy and Harshit got Test caps on his insistence.
Gambhir, who seldom smiles, could afford a grin under the Perth Sun as the burly Harshit and the sinewy Nitish didn't deviate from the script handed to them for the better part of the game.
Nervous Aussies
============
Starting the day at 12 for 3 in pursuit of 534, it was about how much time would it take for Australia to capitulate and they eventually did despite a counter-attacking 89 by Travis Head that only delayed the inevitable.
On the last two tours, India started the series at Adelaide, which is believed to have friendlier batting conditions but this time, Australia decided to make the first move putting India on the bounciest surface in the country.
The move only worked for a session and a half before it backfired completely. The Australians had factored in India's vulnerability but decided to punt on their own batting line-up which has been woefully short of runs.
Steve Smith, one of the modern day greats, and Marnus Labuschagne, who has always been obsessed about batting, have had their forms desert them for the longest time.
Then they inducted a rookie in Nathan McSweeney, who isn't particularly tested and also not an opener. It indicated that just like India, Australia will also face a transition, and it's case could be even worse.
Josh Hazlewood had thrown the towel on third evening itself and one shouldn't be surprised if the Australian team management plays on flatter batting decks in the coming matches in order to nullify Bumrah's threat.
But Bumrah is the sort of bowler can tighten the noose whenever he desires and irrespective of conditions.
On the fourth afternoon, he came back to dislodge Head, who was putting on a fight.
That was possibly the best of his eight wickets in the game. It was pitched on length and the compulsive driver that Head is, he didn't expect it to climb from length and it took the outside edge.
