A botched eye surgery camp blinded five persons, while 11 others developed serious complications in Nandyal town of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh.

St Werburghs Hospital conducted the free camp on November 14, but the hospital authorities tried to hush up the goof-up by referring the victims to hospitals in Guntur, Kurnool and Hyderabad. The incident came to light when the victims approached the district health authorities and the media on Thursday.

Kurnool district health officer Venkatapathy said as many as 33 people went to the camp for cataract surgery.

The patients returned to their villages after the operation. But 16 of them developed infections and went to the hospital for post-surgery followup. "The medical officer there rudely told us to go to bigger hospitals," a patient said.

But for five of them, it was too late. They were already blinded. The National Eye Care Project officials will probe the incident.