HC orders Tk 1m in compensation to each of 17 eye surgery victims in Chuadanga

The High Court has ordered Chuadanga-based Impact Masudul Hoque Memorial Community Health Centre to pay Tk 1 million in damages to each of the 17 victims who lost their eyesight following cataract surgeries.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 21 Oct 2018, 12:30 PM
Updated : 21 Oct 2018, 10:21 PM

Irish Company, a pharmaceutical company that provided drugs during the surgeries, will have to bear 50 percent of the total compensation, according to the court orders.

The judges also instructed the community hospital to provide 20 victims with fully free treatment as long as they live - 17 of them have lost their eyesight and three others have suffered infection. 

According to the orders, the Impact Masudul Hoque Memorial Community Health Centre administration must also pay the hospital bills should those 20 victims receive treatment in other hospitals. 

Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader ordered the compensation for victims on Sunday.

The Impact Health Centre opened a three-day camp on Mar 4 where 24 people were operated on for cataract under the supervision of Dr Md Shahin.

The writ petition following which the court passed the orders was based on a report published by Bangla Daily Samakal on Mar 29. The newspaper reported that 20 people had lost their eyesight after undergoing cataract surgeries at the health centre.

According to the report, the patients started suffering from infections and burning sensations in their eyes the day after the surgeries.

At first, the doctors at Impact did not take their complaints seriously but later advised them to visit a local ophthalmologist.

The ophthalmologist advised them to get urgent treatment in Dhaka.

Four of the patients came to Dhaka for treatment immediately. Impact sent 16 patients to the capital later.

Doctors in Dhaka removed the infected eyes of 19 patients. One of the patients was rendered almost blind, but a second surgery in Dhaka did not improve matters, according to the report.

It also said all the victims were poor and had taken loans from relatives, banks or sold cattle to raise money for cataract surgeries.