Uttar Pradesh: Medical officer suspended after doctors treat 32 cataract patients under torchlight in Unao

Unnao: The district administration on Tuesday suspended the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) after reports surfaced that 32 cataract patients were operated upon in torchlight for want of steady electricity supply at a state-run facility in Uttar Pradesh. “Taking a serious note of the matter, the Uttar Pradesh government acted promptly and suspended CMO Rajendra Prasad,” Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh told PTI. He said in-charge of the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Nawabganj has also been removed. A report has been sought by the state health department regarding the entire episode. [caption id=“attachment_4276317” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] According to the visuals that went viral on social media, 32 cataract operations were done at the CHC in Nawabganj on Monday in the torchlight as there was no electricity or power back-up there. The CMO earlier said the acting district magistrate has ordered a probe into the matter and the organisation entrusted with the task could be blacklisted if found guilty. 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. Uttar Pradesh has attracted bad press for a series of ‘medical disasters’ in the recent past, with the death of more than 60 children, mostly infants, at a government hospital in Gorakhpur being the latest case in point. A hospital in Farukhabad recorded 49 deaths, 30 in neo-natal ICU and 19 during delivery, between 20 July and 21 August this year, reportedly due to a lack of oxygen supply.