One of the 18 people who underwent cataract surgery at a Garden Reach hospital last month might lose vision in one eye, a senior doctor at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology said on Monday.

The surgeries were done at Garden Reach State General Hospital and Metiabruz Super Speciality Hospital during the last week of June. They were referred to the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology (RIO), in the Medical College Kolkata campus, in the first week of July after several of them complained of not being able to see in the eye where the surgery was done.

Asim Kumar Ghosh, director of RIO, said they had conducted corrective surgeries on the patients and taken other measures to contain the infection in the eyes.

“I am not very hopeful about one of them. This man, his mid 70s, might lose vision in the eye where the cataract surgery was done,” Ghosh told Metro on Monday evening.

He said the rest of the 17 patients had shown improvement. “For all others, there have been significant improvements. Their infection has not spread. They have got back partial vision. We will still work with them and provide all treatment if any new problems occur,” Ghosh said.

An ophthalmologist with a private hospital had said that a fluid — “BSS” — and a “visco-elastic device” used during cataract surgeries might have been contaminated resulting in the infection. “Post-surgical infections might be a possible cause for the problems,” said the ophthalmologist.

Families of five of the patients said on Monday that they were yet to get back any vision in the eye.

Meher Sultana, 65, is one of them.

“My mother was brought to RIO on July 1. The doctors said they washed her eye. She was discharged a week later and was unable to see. They said they had tried their best but could not guarantee anything,” said her son Sheikh Islamuddin, 40.

“It is almost a fortnight but my mother is yet to get back vision in the left eye. We have now been asked to report to the Garden Reach hospital on Tuesday,” he said.

Gobinda Chandra Debnath, 62, is yet to get back vision in his left eye, said his wife Sujata Debnath, 46. “My husband is an electrician and he is the sole breadwinner for the family,” she said.