Chennai: Numerous eye medical camps conducted by private hospitals within the city fail to provide follow-up treatment and medications after eye-related surgeries. Most patients are given a medical kit with some regular eye drops, tablets to prevent further infections after an eye surgery, but this is not followed as a regulation.
“Once an operation is done, people brought from rural areas for surgery are sent back with travel allowance even without the medical kit. There are a large number of patients who are operated in such camps, however, doctors do not reach out to all patients for follow up,” a doctor deployed at an eye medical camp in Chennai told on condition of anonymity.
The unattended eye-related complications post eye surgeries include red eye, dry eyes, watering, foreign body sensation, burning sensation, short-term visual disorders and even loss of sight. The most affected due to this are patients coming from rural areas and outskirts including Gumidipoondi, Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Tambaram who remain unaware of proper follow-up, thereby falling victim to the complications.
“The vision was lost after six months of surgery even after approaching various hospitals and shelling out a large amount of money for treatment. While the hospital that conducted the free eye camp was far away, doctors in proximity declined to check fearing further medical complications”, said S.Raju, a patient from a rural area.
Another patient R.Girija, who underwent cataract surgery in a free eye camp, added that her eyes turned red and were watering after a week of the surgery, while irritation and foreign body sensation increased after a month. “The vision of the operated eye declined quickly and now I can barely see from one eye. But the hospital owes no responsibility for the same and now I am left stranded with no treatment possible,” she said.
