The Ministry of Health has taken prompt measures to withdraw all imported eye drops from India while the conduct of eye surgeries in hospitals has been temporarily halted.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (9), Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella said that due to the quality failures of “Prednisolone”, which is an eye drop used after cataract surgery that has been imported from India, prompt measures have been taken to withdraw the same. “The Ministry has taken measures to withdraw the whole eye drop batch from each hospital while the eye surgeries have been suspended in hospitals,” Rambukwella said.

Rambukwella further said that there were 10 patients who had been detected from the Nuwara Eliya District General Hospital as having suffered complications due to the use of the same, and that seven patients have recovered while three are still in the process of recovery.

As a reason for this issue, he said: “If there are 20 or 30 batches of eye drops, one may get one or two with such quality failures, but it is infrequent. This may be the result of bad weather, transport and/or storage. Therefore, we have withdrawn them immediately.”

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday, Deputy Director General of the Ministry, Dr. Saman Rathnayake said that it may be a bacterial infection that occurred while using such eye drops or may be the issue was when it was being manufactured. He also emphasised that they have withdrawn all the eye drop batches.

“The remaining three patients who have been detected are still in the process of recovery, and two patients are detected as 80% sightless, while another patient is detected as 40% sightless. And, they also will recover soon.”

Prednisolone is an eye drop that is used to reduce the irritation, redness, thermal burns, and swelling of inflammation caused by eye allergies, chemicals, and heat. It is mostly used after eye surgeries, and prevents eye damage by changing the way the immune system works.