Chief Minister Mayawati removed the head of Opthalmology department, Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU), and suspended two of its doctors after cataract surgeries held at a health centre run by the hospital went wrong.

On February 6, 22 patients were admitted to the hospital after they were found to have contracted an infection.

The suspended doctors are Dr Kanchan Banodha — who has been with the centre for past 2 years and has performed around 1,000 cataract operations — and Dr Shalini Singh, who was with the centre for the last two months. Dr Deepak Kumar, head of Ophthalmology Department, has been removed.

A two-member inquiry committee, headed by Dr SK Sachan, HoD, Ophthalmology, Kanpur Medical College, has been formed. They will be submitting their report within three days.

The patients had undergone cataract operations at a health centre in Sarojini Nagar on February 3 and 6. The complaints of infection surfaced on February 6, with all of them reporting redness and swelling in the operated eye and they were rushed to the CSMMU.

Of them, 18 underwent a re-surgery at the hospital on Monday and one was treated only with medication. But even so, the doctors were could confirm that the eyesight only five will definitely be restored. The condition of three patients is still serious. They could not be operated upon and the chance of their losing sight is very high.

“We can say that five patients are fine. For the rest, it is a wait and watch situation,” said Dr Saroj Chooramani Gopal, the university’s Vice Chancellor.

The hospital, meanwhile, began a blame game on Monday, alleging that the infection could have been contracted from the materials used — lens or lotions — and these materials are provided by the Chief Medical Officer of the district. “We only provide doctors for operation,” said De Vinita Singh, the new Head of the university’s Ophthalmology Department.