Surgery performed in torchlight: NHRC issues notice to Yogi Adityanath govt

New Delhi: Taking suo motu cognizance of the eye surgeries performed under torchlight at a health centre in Unnao, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

According to ANI, the NHRC notice was issued two days after it came to light that at least 32 people were operated for cataract at a government hospital in torchlight in Unnao.

The shocking incident prompted the authorities to transfer the district’s top health official and suspend a doctor for negligence and violation of norms.

The surgeries were conducted on Monday under the light of two torches at the primary healthcare centre (PHC) in Nawabganj, which like many rural areas of Uttar Pradesh gets electricity for only 12 hours a day.

“This is a height of negligence. No one will be spared,” Unnao District Magistrate Ravi Kumar N had said on Tuesday.

Kumar ordered a probe by joint magistrate Manish Bansal and additional chief medical officer RK Gautam after he was told about the surgeries, which were carried out during an outage.

The area was under dark as the electricity city supply was cut around 7 pm on Monday night and restored in the morning next day, according to reports.

The permission for the surgeries was given by Chief medical officer (CMO) Rajendra Prasad, which was in clear violation of norms, the authorities later said. While Prasad was transferred, PHC superintendent Dinesh Dass was suspended for negligence.

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 extremely cold weather conditions.

A five-bed facility, the Nawabganj PHC took in 32 patients even though it is not equipped for eye surgeries.

PHCs are the cornerstone of rural health care that typically has one physician and provides basic care.

There is an acute shortage of ophthalmologists in Uttar Pradesh and to bridge the gap, the state government has entered into a contract with non-government organisations.

The NGOs bring in people who need surgeries and also arrange for cataract surgeons, with the government providing the infrastructure.

For Monday’s surgeries, the NGO was to be paid Rs 1,000 per patient, said reports.

(With Agency inputs)