Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday ordered a probe after 10 people, who underwent cataract surgery at a free eye check-up camp in a hospital on October 20, lost their eyesight.

The unnerving incident took place in Nellore district, bordering Tamil Nadu.

The state government announced Rs 50,000 compensation to each of the persons who lost their eyesight and asked Bollineni Eye Hospital and Research Centre, where the surgeries were conducted, to pay Rs 1,50,000 to each of the victims.

Chief Minister K Rosaiah asked Nellore district collector and the superintendent of police to conduct investigations and send the report to the government. The Nellore district collector has formed a five-member committee to conduct probe.

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Health Minister D. Nagender told reporters after a high-level meeting of the Chief Minister here that criminal action would be initiated against the corporate hospital if negligence by the doctors was found to be the cause of people losing their eyesight.

After the surgery, eyeballs of four of the affected people had to be removed to save their lives, their relatives said.

They were among 34 people operated upon by a team of doctors at Bollineni Eye Hospital and Research Centre in Nellore town.

Officials said 15 of the people, who were operated upon at the hospital, came back the next day with complaints of severe pain and a burning sensation. The number of infected people Monday rose to 22, with seven more approaching hospitals in Chennai and Vijayawada with post-surgery complications.

Eleven of the infected persons were shifted to Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, where the doctors said that the chances of getting their eyesight back were bleak.

Global Eye Foundation affiliated to the Bollineni hospital had conducted a camp at a couple of villages in Indukurpet mandal in the district on Oct 18 and identified these people who required surgery.

While the families of the victims alleged that they turned blind due to negligence of the doctors, the hospital authorities said the infection was a result of the patients not taking precautions.

Blaming the doctors at the Bollineni hospital for the tragedy, the relatives of the patients demanded that the government take serious action against them.

"We have launched the probe. We have directed the hospital authorities to stop all operations till the probe is completed," Nellore District Collector K. Ramgopal told reporters.

The district authorities have sent a team of doctors to Chennai to collect swabs from the patients. District health officials said the medicines and equipment used for the surgery were also sent for examination. They said action would be taken against the hospital only after receiving reports from the concerned labs.

The Bollineni hospital authorities have denied that negligence by the doctors led to patients' blindness.

"There is not a single incident where negligence by doctors has resulted in the infection. There could be several reasons for the infection and we will know the facts after testing the swabs which have already been sent to government labs," said N. Sai Murali, chief ophthalmologist at the hospital.

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A team of four doctors had performed the surgery. Terming the incident as unfortunate, Murali pointed out that 45,000 cataract surgeries were performed at the hospital during the last six years and not a single incident of infection was reported.

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