Assam: Patient loses eyesight due to alleged wrong treatment at Barpeta

A patient has lost her eyesight due to alleged wrong treatment that was given to her at the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College & Hospital in Assam's Barpeta. 

Dulubala Das, a resident of Barpeta's Gandhinagar, reportedly lost her eyesight due to medical errors.

The victim's family has also written a letter to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in this regard seeking justice. 

According to the details of the case, Dulubala Das was taken to the Fakhruddinuddin Ali Ahmed Medical College Hospital in Barpeta on October 16 as she was suffering from an eye disease on her left eye.

After the examination, the doctor reportedly said that a lens of 10.5 should be applied to the eyes but it would be delayed by a week as that lens is not available in the medical college. 

After several days, the patient's family members were told that the lens has still not reached the hospital. 

A few days later, reportedly a needle was applied to the eye to perform an operation. After this, the patient felt unbearable pain and said that she could see nothing from the eyes. 

After this, the patient was taken to the Shankardev Netralaya hospital in Guwahati. There it was revealed the failure of eyesight was due to the rupture of retina during the operation. 

The victim's son said that it was completely the doctor's and also revealed that the doctor had infact admitted her mistake to the family. 

"This is completely because of the doctor's fault. Only after putting the needle, she has lost her sight. Prior to that, she could see everything and was doing fine. On the day we were leaving for Guwahati, she called us and told us that she had committed a mistake and had not told us all this time that the retina had been ruptured. We demand that she should be punished for what she has done. This matter should be probed. How will my mother live her life now as a blind woman? I have also written a letter to the honourable Chief Minister, the Deputy Commissioner of our district and the head of the Barpeta Medical College. I want that my mother should be given proper treatment," said the victim's son. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Ramen Talukdar, principal of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College Hospital, denied that there was any negligence on the part of the medical staff.

"It is unfortunate that the patient has lost her eyesight. We have initiated an enquiry into the matter on our own. We also talked with the authorities at the Shankardev Netralaya. It is a matter of great complication as during the initial tests on the patient, it was found that from the left eye, hand movement could be seen. And in the right eye, from a distance of one meter, there was visibility. Operation was conducted and it was stated that there was anaesthetic complication during the process. But after our probe we have found that anaesthetic complication cannot be equivalent to medical negligence. Complications can happen in any procedure. We have not found any negligence during our enquiry. But we are still looking into the matter," said Dr Ramen Talukdar.