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.
Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
