1 year prison for taking eyesight of 66 villagers

The trial had been going on for the last seven years in which 137 persons deposed as witnesses.

The victims will get compensation with 7.5 per cent interest

A lower court convicted three employees, including the managing director, of a private eye hospital to undergo one-year imprisonment for 66 villagers losing their vision during an eye camp the hospital conducted, at Tiruchy, on Wednesday.

According to the prosecution, in the free cataract camp, conducted by doctors of citybased Joseph Eye Hospital in July 2008, at Villupuram district, 66 persons were shortlisted for cataract surgery. The surgery was performed in Perambalur and, subsequently, all of them lost their vision.

As per the directions of the Madras High Court, the CBI took over the case in 2011, and after detailed inquiry, filed cases against eight persons. This included four ophthalmologists of the hospital before the chief judicial magistrate court here. The trial had been going on for the last seven years in which 137 persons deposed as witnesses.

The CBI filed cases against hospital MD Nelson Jesudasan, exe- cutive officer of the hospital Christoper Thomas, camp doctor Ashok, Dr Avvai, Dr Thendral Ponnudurai, Dr Sowjanya and hospital technician Andreews.

Chief judicial magistrate M. Sridhar convicted MD Nelson Jesudasan, executive officer Christoper Thomas, camp doctor Ashok to undergo one-year imprisonment.

The magistrate also directed the hospital authorities to pay compensation to all the 66 vision-affected victims by calculating their age, working skill with 7.5 per cent interest, after deducting `1 lakh each that had already been paid as compensation by the hospital.