Salim Sheikh, who is in his 50s, sized and cut fabric threads for a living. After a successful cataract operation on his right eye on June 11, he had gone back to the Garden Reach State General Hospital to get the same operation on his left eye on June 27. But since then, he says, that eye has been left completely blind. “Some of us who were affected can at least see light in their botched eye. I only see darkness,” he said.
Mr. Sheikh is one of 20-odd patients who have been left with partial to complete blindness in one eye after undergoing allegedly botched cataract surgeries at the Garden Reach State General Hospital at the end of June. Mr. Sheikh, who earns ₹1,500 a week, spent ₹6,000 in just a few days on medicines, food, and his family’s travel to and from the hospital.
“Everyday the doctors come here and prescribe expensive medicines for us to buy. I cannot afford this anymore,” he said, perched on his bed at the male eye ward at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO) at Medical College, Kolkata, where affected patients from Garden Reach have been sent for treatment. Acute financial stress compelled him to go home from the RIO on Wednesday, even before the doctors greenlit his discharge.
The eye ward at the new building of the Garden Reach State Hospital bears a deserted look after allegations of 20 botched cataract surgeries came to the fore earlier this month. | Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
“I work hard everyday to put food on the table. My work demands good eyesight. Now I have lost one eye completely. I don’t know what the future holds,” he said.
According to the Medical Superintendent of the Garden Reach State General Hospital Dr. Koushik Ray infections were detected in 20 patients and 18 of them have already been discharged from the RIO so far.
“We contacted all the patients after we detected an infection in one of them during their first post-surgical follow-up,” he told The Hindu on Thursday. The Principal Secretary of the State Health Department Narayan Swaroop Nigam said medicines used in the surgeries have been sent for examination, and a team is conducting an investigation into the matter. “The Garden Reach State General Hospital is reputed for its ophthalmology department,” he added.
60-year-old Rizwana Parveen who had undergone cataract surgery in her right eye at the Garden Reach State General Hospital on June 28, recalled that she could not see anything with her right eye since the operation.
“Doctors at Garden Reach assured me that eye drops would fix the issue. Two days later, the hospital called me up and asked me to report immediately to Medical College. They said my eye has been infected,” Ms. Parveen said. “I cannot see anything at all. The doctor told me to not keep any hope of ever being able to see again,” she added.
Her daughter, Saba Aafreen, lamented over her mother’s future in tailoring after being left partially blind, with no children to support her. “My father also has impaired eyesight. My mother was his only caregiver, she works as a tailor to bear their living expenses,” Ms. Aafreen told The Hindu.
“All their children are either married or out of town for work. Who will take care of my parents? Both are handicapped now.” With tears trickling down from behind her protective sunglasses, Ms. Parveen said she regrets deciding to get her eye operated. “I could see with this eye before the operation, it was just a bit shadowy. Now it is completely blind,” she said.
Ms. Parveen was discharged by the hospital on Wednesday with instructions for a check-up ten days later. “The biggest fault here is the Government’s. What kind of medicines did they give the patients at a Government hospital? We are poor, their mistake cost my family its livelihood,” her daughter emphasised.
Sheikh Mohammed Sakil, 62, a resident of Akra in South 24 Parganas, is undergoing treatment at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Medical College Kolkata, following a partial loss of sight in one eye since his cataract surgery in Garden Reach State General Hospital on June 27. | Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
Sheikh Mohammed Sakil, 62, and Alamara Bibi, 60, who were also admitted at the RIO following cataract operations at Garden Reach State General Hospital, have slight vision in their operated eye. Mr. Sakil said he can see light, while Ms. Alamara said she can see partial shadows. Ms. Alamara’s daughter, Reshma, claimed all patients who were called in at RIO for alleged postoperative infections were assembled on arrival and told by hospital authorities that while they cannot guarantee that patients will regain vision, further treatment was absolutely crucial and without it, “their eyes might melt off”.
“Chaos ensued after they said that. Then they made all the families write and sign a letter, where they asked to give consent to all treatment procedures and said any eventuality would not be the RIO’s responsibility,” Reshma said. “I don’t blame the doctors, but I was left terrified about what might happen to my mother,” she said. She also expressed disappointment over government officials and elected representatives not meeting the patients or their families, and the affected families not being given any kind of compensation.
Meanwhile Mr. Sakil’s son-in-law, Md. Shamim, was angry at the alleged apathy of the doctors and staff at RIO. “The doctors here put my father-in-law through multiple operations at Medical College, sometimes leaving him alone to wait near the OT for multiple hours without any assistance,” he said. Mr. Sakil mentioned how in just a few days, they raked up expenses worth almost ₹8,000.
Shafqat Rahim, a local activist whose uncle is also among the affected, carried out a demonstration with other affected families at the Garden Reach State General Hospital on Tuesday to protest against the alleged botched-up surgeries.
“They claim it is a super-speciality hospital, and yet, when this happened, the authorities are claiming it was just an accident. No elected representative has cared to talk to any of the patients or families yet,” she said.
