Raipur, Dec 16 (IANS): The Chhattisgarh government admitted Sunday that 15 people had developed eye infections after they were operated upon at a community health centre recently, and assured their treatment at state expense.

Health Minister Amar Agrawal has ordered a probe into the eye operation camp and said he would meet the victims Monday at MGM Hospital here where the patients were rushed from Mahasamund district's Bagbahra.

In an official statement issued Sunday night, the minister said that senior health official and eye expert Dr. Subhash Mishra has been asked to probe the matter and submit his report to government within 10 days.

The statement informed that eye operation was held for two days, Dec 9-10, and a total of 145 people were operated upon by three doctors including government doctor P.C Patra.

The two other doctors - Dr. Amrita Mukherjee and Dr. Charudutt Kalamkar- were brought by a social organisation, Shree Krishna Agrawal Memorial Trust, which organised the health camp at Health Community Centre at Bagbahra, over 100 km from Raipur.

The opposition Congress has also stepped into the issue and claimed Sunday that poor people lost eye sight after being operated upon by government doctors.

The Congress said that the botched eye operation case was the latest of a series of such incidents in the state which began in Balod district in September last year when at least 45 elderly people were completely blinded at a government health camp.