Uttar Pradesh hospital operates on wrong eye of a boy, doctor says, 'I got confused between right-left'

Noida: In a case of medical negligence at a private hospital in Greater Noida, a seven-year-old boy was operated on his right eye instead of the left one in which he had a problem, his family claimed.

District officials on Thursday said they were yet to get a formal complaint in this regard.

The operation took place at the hospital located in the Gamma 1 sector of the city on November 12. The family approached the local police on Thursday.

However, there has been no official complaint yet with the police or the district health department, officials confirmed to PTI.

According to the family, the child was taken to the Ananda Spectrum Hospital on Tuesday after he complained of watering in his left eye.

The boy's father, Nitin Bhati, told reporters that the doctors suggested surgery to treat the problem (a foreign object in the eye) in his son's eye and charged them Rs 45,000 for the treatment.

He said after the treatment, the doctors even showed him a picture of a plastic article that was allegedly removed from the boy's eye. But to their shock, when they returned home, his wife noticed that the child's right eye was operated on instead of the left, Bhati said.

Amid ensuing chaos at the hospital, the local Beta 2 police station officials reached the facility for a mediation attempt with the doctor concerned and the child's family.

Responding to the claims, the doctor concerned said, "Mujhse bas right-left mein galti ho gayi. Bas yahi meri ek samasya hai (I only erred in making the distinction between right and left eye. That is my only problem). I accept my mistake." The doctor further said, "I take full guarantee that the child will be okay in just five days," the doctor further said, in an attempt to pacify the agitated parents of the child.

Bhati said, "This is not a small mistake!" An official of the Beta 2 police station on Thursday evening told PTI that the mediation attempt remained inconclusive.

"We have not received any formal complaint from the family yet," the official said.

When contacted, District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma and Chief Medical Officer Sunil Kumar Sharma also told PTI that they were yet to receive any complaint.

"Any time when we get such a complaint, an investigation is immediately launched into the matter. However, as of now, nothing has been officially reported to us," Sharma said.

There was no response from Ananda Spectrum hospital over the matter.