From a simple surgery to a health disaster.. an infection threatens the eyesight of dozens in Egypt.

Arabian Sea Newspaper - Special

From a simple surgery to a health disaster... an infection threatens the eyesight of dozens in Egypt. Cairo - Bahr Al Arab - Follow-ups Alaa El-Din El-Feki, a researcher in his seventies at the Agricultural Research Institute, did not expect that a routine operation to remove cataracts from his right eye would turn into the beginning of a nightmare threatening his life and eyesight. On August 26, he entered the 6th of October Health Insurance Hospital in Giza Governorate to undergo a surgery that would only take a third of an hour, hoping to see the world clearly afterwards. But only two days later, the tragedy began. "I was surprised by severe redness in my eye and my eyelid began to close," Alaa tells BBC Arabic in a tired voice. He was not the only one who experienced this; dozens of patients contracted the same infection after undergoing similar surgeries in the same department, turning the hope of recovery into a search for treatment, ministerial investigations, and the closure of an entire ophthalmology department. Doctors in private hospitals described the situation as "tragic," noting that the bacterial infection that leaked into the operating room could cause permanent vision loss and even threaten the lives of some patients if the infection spreads to the other eye or reaches the brain. The issue is no longer an individual incident but has turned into a widespread health crisis, placing dozens of Egyptian families in the face of a harsh shock, while the Ministry of Health continues its investigations to identify those responsible for the disaster and ensure that it does not happen again. From an operation that is supposed to be "safe and quick," patients found themselves in the heart of an unequal battle with a deadly microbe, turning their lives upside down, and raising major questions about sterilization procedures and medical supervision in health institutions.