Following cataract procedures at a government hospital, three patients experienced lifelong eyesight loss. They have filed petitions in the Colombo District Court, requesting compensation from former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and 10 other parties totaling Rs. 300 million. The claims claim that the use of “Prednisolone Acetate” eye drops, which were given after surgery, was the reason for the visual loss.
Keheliya Rambukwella, Janaka Chandraguptha, the Attorney General, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, Prof. S.D. Jayaratne, Drs. Vijith Gunasekera, Asela Gunawardene, Rohan Edirisinghe, and Mahendra Seneviratne, as well as Chamee Chemist (Pvt) Ltd of Yakkala, are among the defendants named in the case.
Makkari Rajaratnam, a complainant from Kandapola, claimed that on April 5, 2023, he had cataract surgery at Nuwara Eliya General Hospital. Following the procedure, he was sent home with instructions to continue his recuperation by using the Prednisolone Acetate eye drops, which are produced in India by Indiana Ophthalmics LLP.
Rajaratnam stated that he started having headaches, soreness, and tears on April 19, 2023, following multiple administrations of the eye drops. It was discovered during additional medical examination that he was rapidly losing eyesight in the operated eye. His ailment was identified by medical professionals at the National Eye Hospital on May 10, 2023, as endophthalmitis, a serious eye infection that was purportedly brought on by inferior eye drops that did not pass sterility checks.
The cases, which were submitted by Invictus Law Firm attorneys Sampath Wijewardene, Thamali Kuruppu, and Pravinka Ratnasekera, seek damages for the serious harm done to the plaintiffs’ vision as well as possible dangers to their lives.