Approximately 80 patients have reportedly lost their eyesight due to eye drops that were administered to them at Al-Shifa Hospital in Islamabad.
According to a report in Dawn, the eye drops were given to the patients of glaucoma after surgery. Glaucoma is a condition in which an optic nerve, vital for good vision, is damaged.
A 53-year-old man Manzoor Ahmed Kiani, who works as a sub-inspector in Bagh, Azad Kashmir told the publication that he was operated for glaucoma on January 8 and was given the eye drops after his surgery. He shared that the doesn’t know “what kind of impurity was in the eye drops” because after using them he had a severe infection following which he lost his eyesight.
Kiani shared that the patient on the next bed had the same experience.
In response to the allegations, the media coordinator of Al Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Mirza Riaz Baig said that the condition of only eight people had deteriorated.
Baig said that 250 operations are conducted daily at the hospital and “only eight patients had a reaction to the eye drops”.
“One woman, out of them, lost her sight and she belongs to the constituency of the former prime minister. Other patients’ eyesight could not recover fully so we called them again and admitted them to provide treatment,” he elaborated.
Baig also shared that the hospital provides free treatment to 70 percent of its patients.
“We have been serving the people so no one should doubt the intentions of the hospital. The eye drops that were administered were imported and we never had a complaint like this in the past,” he said.
Meanwhile the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) Chief Executive Officer Dr Asim Rauf has announced that the matter will be investigated. He said that he will direct the Pharmacy Service Division to look into the matter and submit a detailed report regarding the incident.
Dr Rauf also said he had never heard of people losing their eyesight due to eye drops, adding that people usually develop allergies due to the drops but often recover after a few days.
