Khon Kaen Hospital Resumes Eye Operations

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Khon Kaen Hospital resumes eye operations

KHON KAEN: -- Khon Kaen Hospital has resumed operating on cataract patients, though now the measures are stricter to prevent any recurrence of the recent tragedy.

As many as 10 patients were blinded after undergoing eye surgery and developing serious infections last month. It remains unclear how the patients' eyes became infected.

Once the shocking cases came to light, the hospital suspended all pending eye surgery, which only resumed on Wednesday night with two patients undergoing cataract operations.

Inside the operating theatre, officials from the Infectious Disease Control Division kept a close watch on the surgical team, which carefully followed all prescribed measures to prevent infections.

"The surgeries were successful and the patients are in a satisfactory condition," the head of the hospital's ophthalmology section, Dr Weerasak Anutangkoon, said yesฌterday.

The two patients, aged 67 and 78, are now in hospital under close observation.

"We will only release them when they have fully recovered from the surgical wounds," Weerasak said.

He added that the successful surgeries had boosted the morale of the surgical team and restored the hosฌpital's credibility.

"Many other cataract patients have now expressed an interest in undergoing surgery in our hospital," he said.

Two more patients are scheduled for cataract surgery today.

"We are confident that everything will go well," he said.

Meanwhile, the Buri Ram Public Health Office has given Bt60,000 in compensation to a man who reportฌed partial blindness after undergoฌing cataract surgery at Buri Ram Hospital.

"This case is neither about infecฌtion nor medical malpractice," Buri Ram public health chief Dr Sompong Jarungjittanuson said, adding that the blindness had been caused by the patient's detached retiฌna.

"This can happen to anyone, especially the elderly," he said.

Pitak Phubuaduang, 52, will be referred to Srinakarin Hospital in Khon Kaen to receive retinal surฌgery, which is scheduled for next Friday.

-- The Nation 2010-01-15

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