Surgeons are back doing emergency eye operations at Khon Kaen general hospital while inquiries continue into what caused 10 patients who underwent surgery last month to go blind.
Deputy director Dr Witthaya Chartbanchachai said there were many "cannot-wait" cases of patients needing ophthalmological cures and all operating rooms for eye surgery had been re-opened, while internal staff and inspectors from other agencies did investigations at the northeastern hospital.
"Ten [more] operations have been performed and more than 1,000 are waiting," he said, adding that the 10 latest patients had had no problems and were fine - all 10 had regained their sight.
Teams of public health experts and epidemiological staff were now present during operations to observe the process and to detect possible causes that led to infections that resulted in 10 people losing their sight before the New Year break.
Staff from the Bureau of Epidemiology have conducted lab tests on samples collected from operating rooms. One theory into the problem was that the pseudomonas aeruginosa infection may have been caused by use of antiseptic liquid that had expired. But this could not be substantiated.
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