NANDYAL (Kurnool): At the age of 68, S Chinnamma used to work in the agricultural fields to feed herself and her ailing husband Pedda Thimmanna.She never complained about working after her husband fell ill and their grown-up children abandoned them.But now the iron-willed woman is lying helplessly in the hospital bed at St Werburghs Hospital in Nandyal for no mistake of hers.An alleged mistake by doctors at the Nandyal hospital has cost Chinnamma and 15 others, all poor patients from Kurnool and Prakasam districts, their eye-sight and their future appears dark.The hospital which has been conducting free eye surgeries for the past two years, held a free eye camp on November 14, where 33 patients underwent eye surgeries.But within a week, 16 of them were suffering with infection where their eyes were swollen and water oozed out even as they slowly lost their eyesight."It was better earlier when my eyesight was weak. I have never felt so helpless," Chinnamma lamented as her husband and a couple of relatives attended her on Thursday.The elderly couple have no one to look after them and have been deprived off their one-meal-a-day due to the alleged mistake of the hospital staff.Another victim A Maddamma also has no one to take care of her, as both her husband and son died a few years ago due to illness.The victims who returned to St Werburghs Hospital with complaints about eye infection were rushed to Guntur and then to Kurnool Regional Eye Hospital which delayed their treatment.According to Dr K Anjaneyulu, a senior ophthalmologist at the Kurnool hospital, the hospital management had failed to approach the specialists soon after the patients approached with complaints of eye infection. "We could have minimised the damage if the patients came to us earlier. They were brought to us in the eleventh hour and we could do little to save their eyesight," said Anjaneyulu during his visit to the hospital.The case of brother-sister duo, B Veerabhadrudu and B Ramalakshmi is no different. Ramalakshmi, a widow has been living along with her brother and sister-in-law after her husband died. Veerabhadrudu (70) is the lone bread-winner of the family after his children abandoned him, his wife and sister.But he along with Ramlakshmi lost sight after they underwent eye surgery recently. For those visiting them at the hospital, Ramalakshmi is posing one question- "How can we live now?"Sources said the hospital management even tried to bury the issue and offered compensation for the victims apart from free treatment.Though the hospital management denied it, Nandyal Diocese bishop PJ Lawrence told mediapersons the hospital has been serving the poor since 2009 and no such incident had occurred before.Even as health authorities and district administration launched separate inquiries into the incident, the doctors team from Kurnool Regional Eye Hospital visited the Nandyal hospital.
Comments
0 comment