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250 farmers injured in police action: Punjab health minister
45 have suffered eye injuries, complete vision loss in 5 cases; most of the trauma to the eye caused by indiscriminate use of tear gas, says Punjab health minister Dr Balbir Singh
The Punjab government on Friday said nearly 250 farmers have been injured in police action at the Shambhu and Khanauri borders so far.
“Of these, 20 have serious injuries. As many as 45 farmers suffered eye injuries and five have completely lost their vision, health minister Dr Balbir Singh said.
“Four farmers have suffered globe rupture and are being treated at PGIMER-Chandigarh,” said Dr Balbir, who is an ophthalmologist, adding that most of the injuries to eyes have been because of indiscriminate use of tear gas.
“As many as 46 farmers were injured in police action at Khanauri, while 150 sustained injuries at Shambhu border. The police action was more brutal at Khanauri where many farmers suffered serious injuries,” the minister added.
Dr Parul Chawla Gupta, an associate professor at PGI’s Advanced Eye Centre, said that the immediate effects of tear gas shells and smoke bombs can include irritation, watering, redness of eyes, and blurry vision.
“Nerves get irritated and lead to watering known as tearing. The impact of tear gas remains for 15-20 minutes and sometimes up to three days and depends on the extent of exposure to the tear gas,” the doctor said.
“Extended exposure to tear gas can result in the development of symblepharon, which is the fusion of the eyelid and eyeball, as well as corneal ulceration due to the chemical properties of the gas. Being in close proximity to tear gas canisters may cause symptoms akin to blunt trauma to the eye, such as traumatic cataract, glaucoma, hyphema (bleeding in the front of the eye), vitreous haemorrhage (bleeding inside the eye), and traumatic optic neuropathy (damage to the optic nerve), Dr Parul added.
A ruptured globe is classified as secondary to blunt trauma when an impact from a blunt object results in a momentary increase of the intraocular pressure resulting in an inside-out injury mechanism. A doctor at the PGI eye centre, who didn’t wish to be named, said: “We are treating a few of the patients who have serious eye injuries and have lost vision.”
Over a dozen pellet gun injuries
The Punjab health minister added that over a dozen farmers have received injuries from pellet guns. “Pellets have been used in the upper parts of the body of farmers whereas generally they are used to hit lower limbs to disperse the crowd. One farmer received a serious chest injury because of the pellet shot,” Balbir said.
