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Norms for surgeons in myopia correction

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 28. In a bid to set at rest the longstanding controversy over the use of Lasik surgery for correction of myopia (shortsight), the Centre has come out with a set of do's and don'ts for surgeons.

A major highlight of the new guidelines is that it enjoins upon the surgeons to make it clear to the patients before the surgery that there is no guarantee that their vision would become perfect after the surgery and that they may have to continue wearing glasses, sometimes with increased power, particularly if they had been using powerful glasses before the surgery.

The patients must be told that it is only a cosmetic surgery and that it does not cure the disease process of myopia.

In addition, the patients have to be told that complications could arise even in the hands of the best of surgeons and that it was an irreversible surgical procedure.

The 11-page document notes that experienced surgeons, appropriate machines and proper patient choice will minimise complications, but they can occur in 0.5 per cent to five per cent of the cases in the best of hands.

The document also prescribes minimum qualification for the surgeons performing the operation. Apart from being specially trained, he or she can perform the surgery independently only if he or she had observed or assisted or performed under supervision at least 50 surgeries.

The surgeon must also have received training under someone who has been certified by a committee of experts.

A surgeon would be certified as a trainer, only after he or she undergoes a confidential medical audit of 100 consecutive surgeries.

The Deputy Director-General (Ophthalmology) at the Union Health Ministry, Rachel Jose, said that the guidelines were not legally binding.

But, the surgeons were expected to follow them as it was an official document and could be quoted in case of a dispute.

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