Corporators seek ₹20L relief for seven patients

MUMBAI: Corporators across party lines on Monday demanded compensations of ₹20 lakh for each of the seven patients who suffered varying degrees of vision loss after undergoing ophthalmic procedures at the civic-run HBT Trauma Care Hospital in Jogeshwari (East) earlier in January.

The issue was raised in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) general body meeting on Monday.

The demand was first made a week ago by the leader of the Opposition Ravi Raja. On Monday, Raja also demanded that the BMC take responsibility for the incident, and give jobs to the children and closest relatives of the patients. Five women and two men between the age group of 42 and 79, underwent operations at the Jogeshwari Trauma Care Hospital on January 4.

The next day, when their bandages were removed, doctors noticed that three patients had completely lost vision in the one eye that was operated upon and four others could only see partially. The patients were then moved to KEM hospital in Parel for further treatment.

“Some of them are sole breadwinners of their family. It is the medical staff’s irresponsible attitude that led someone to lose a livelihood,” said Raja.

A preliminary enquiry conducted by the BMC after the incident revealed that the surgeries were conducted under unhygienic conditions.