elderly woman loses eye after cataract surgery

According to Francicleide, the case draws attention because joint efforts for Parelhas surgeries were carried out, until then, outside the municipality. “It was never done here. They were all done by the state government, which compiled a list of the waiting list and forwarded it to the Ministry of Health, which authorized surgeries in accredited places”, he explains.

The mayor decided to do it here now, close to the election. Why? I am in this case not only as a daughter, but because I have a commitment to the 15 who became blind.
Francicleide Maria de Souza

Francisco had been waiting for surgery for two years and four months. The daughter says that, like Izabel, her father also felt pain on Saturday, the day after the surgery. “We brought him to the doctor on Monday. His eye was red, swollen,” he says.

Contracted company and maternity

To carry out the surgeries, the city council hired the maternity hospital and the company, which would receive R$59,000 for the 48 surgeries (20 on the first day and 28 on the second). The amount, however, has not yet been paid. The municipal management says that payment will only be made — or not — after the end of the investigations that are being carried out to understand what happened.

The surgeries were performed by the company Oculare Oftalmologia Avançada Ltda., from Pernambuco, hired through a bidding process to carry out the joint effort. She said, in a statement, that the joint effort was carried out with an “experienced ophthalmologist” and ensures that “the required medical and safety protocols” are followed.