UP: Cataract surgery on 32 patients in torch light in Unnao; probe ordered

Unnao: The district administration on Tuesday suspended the chief medical officer after reports surfaced that 32 cataract patients were operated upon in torch light for want of steady electricity supply at a state-run facility in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.

"Taking a serious note of the matter, the Uttar Pradesh government acted promptly and suspended CMO Rajendra Prasad," Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said.

He said community health centre (CHC) in-charge at Nawabganj has also been removed.

The state health department has asked for a report on the entire episode.

According to the visuals that went viral on social media, 32 cataract operations were done at the CHC in Nawabganj on Monday in torch light as there was no electricity or power back-up there.

The CMO earlier said the acting district magistrate has ordered a probe into the matter and the organisation entrusted with the task could be blacklisted, if found guilty.

Meanwhile, some relatives of the patients complained that they were not provided with any beds after the procedure, and that they were made to lie down on floors despite extreme cold weather conditions.

Uttar Pradesh has attracted bad press for a series of 'medical disasters' in the recent past, with the death of more than 60 children, mostly infants, at a government hospital in Gorakhpur being the latest case in point.

A hospital in Farukhabad recorded 49 deaths – 30 in neo-natal ICU and 19 during delivery – between July 20 and August 21 this year, reportedly due to a lack of oxygen supply.