Egyptian Hospital Officials Face Trial Over Blindness of 75 Patients

Ten officials from a public hospital in Egypt have been referred to criminal court after a bacterial infection left 75 patients permanently blinded following cataract surgery.

• The 10 defendants, including doctors and nurses, are scheduled to appear before the Dokki Misdemeanor Court on July 29, 2026, charged with gross negligence.
• A Ministry of Health preventive medicine source said the infection spread because staff failed to follow mandatory sterilization protocols and did not report infectious cases.
• Mahmoud Fouad, executive director of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Medicine, stated that a forensic report confirmed gross negligence in sterilization and that a surgical phaco device was found to be malfunctioning.