Taking suo motu cognisance of media reports that the vision of 16 persons was affected after a “botched up” cataract surgery at the Government Hospital in Mettur in Salem district earlier this month, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Tamil Nadu government over the issue.
Observing that media reports raised “serious issues of violation of human rights of the victim patients due to the apathetic attitude” of the medical staff at the hospital, the NHRC has asked the Chief Secretary to send a report over the incident, the reasons behind it and action taken against those responsible for it within two weeks, an official release from the NHRC said.
A section of the media had, on June 25, reported that the 16 persons, including 12 women, who had cataract surgery and took eye drops in the hospital “were unable to see.”
After being rushed to the government hospital, they were eventually transferred to a private hospital and the vision of eight patients was badly affected, while another eight suffered “minor loss of vision.”
The media had also reported that at least 25,000 free eye surgeries were performed at various government hospitals in Salem district every year under the National Blindness Control Programme, “but this shocking incident appears to have happened either due to some wrong medicine or some issue with the operation theatre,” it added.
