By IANS,
Raipur : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh may have not announced any compensation so far, but the opposition Congress Tuesday demanded at least Rs.2 million for each of the 45 people who lost their eyesight at a health camp last month.
The weeklong government health camp was organised in Durg district’s Balod area and ended Sep 30. The victims were operated upon for cataract.
“It’s a rare case of innocent people being blinded at a government health camp, the government must act tough against the erring doctors and urgently provide at least Rs.2 million compensation to each of the victims, besides a government job to each of the family,” doctor-turned-politician Renu Jogi said in a statement.
Renu Jogi, who is a Congress legislator and wife of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, said: “The doctors who operated upon cataract patients did not follow the scheduled medical guidelines.”
The state Human Rights Commission has sought details from the state’s Directorate of Health Services about how 45 people lost their eyesight.
The Chhattisgarh government, which is facing severe criticism for the incident, has suspended four doctors and two paramedical staff who operated upon patients at the camp where roughly 325 people, mostly the poor and the elderly, were examined for cataract.
The state government has taken 45 blinded people at various government hospitals in capital Raipur, Dhamtari, Durg and other places, for medical treatment but refused to announce any compensation so far.
One of the patients, Lalmati, 47, who has lost sight in one eye and is being treated at Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Medical College and Hospital here told IANS: “It feels like someone called me to offer sweets and then engineered a cold-blooded murder.”