MINGORA: Several people from different areas here on Wednesday alleged that they lost eyesight after undoing surgery at a hospital where free treatment is provided to patients.

The patients including five men and two women also registered cases in Rahimabad police station against the hospital administration.

They said that they visited an eye hospital at Odigram Swat for treatment of weak eyesight where they were diagnosed with cataracts and the doctors suggested surgery to them.

They said that they underwent eye surgery in the hospital on the same day. However, they alleged that they lost eyesight after the surgery.

“After the surgery in LRBT hospital, I felt acute pain in my affected eye. I visited the hospital again where the doctors said that the pain would subside. After three visits to the hospital, the doctors today told me that I lost my eyesight completely and they could do nothing to restore it,” Zubair, an elderly resident of Faazal Baig Matta, told this scribe.

Register cases with Swat police against hospital admin

Dawa Gul, a resident of Shin village in Khwazakhela, repeated the same story about his eye surgery in the hospital. He said that after the surgery, he also felt severe pain in his eye.

“When I came to the hospital, the doctors said that I lost vision which has shocked me,” he said.

Similar stories were narrated by the women patents.

“The doctors asked me to visit the hospital on July 5 for surgery. After the surgery when the doctors removed the bandage from my eye, it was all darkness and I could not see. The doctors asked me to visit the hospital the next day and when I went there again, they inspected my eye and administrated some injections to it but of no use,” said Jamila, an elderly woman from Matta tehsil.

She said that she visited the hospital several times where, at last, the doctors said that she had lost her eyesight permanently.

The affected people demanded of the government to initiate an inquiry into the matter and provide justice to them.

Dr Afazal Khatak, the head of the hospital where the patients underwent eye surgery, when contacted, said that the hospital administration stopped eye surgery in the hospital as they suspected presence of germs in the operation theatre.

“We are inquiring the issue and will be able to tell the real cause after the inquiry completes. Presently, we have stopped eye surgeries and will resume it after the final inquiry report arrives,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2019