REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEW DELHI -- Fifteen Indians lost their sight after a doctor used suspected infected equipment to remove cataracts at a free eye surgery camp, the latest incident to highlight the dangers of shoddy medical treatment in the country.

A criminal investigation has been launched against the non-governmental organization and the doctors who carried out the operations, mainly on elderly women, without consulting health authorities. The government is trying to check the condition of 45 other patients operated on at the camp in Punjab state in northern India, according to Rajiv Bhalla, a senior government surgeon in the city of Amritsar, where the patients are being treated.

"The cause was probably using unsterilized instruments - that can be the only reason for the infection in the eye," said Bhalla. "There are no chances of them having their vision restored."

Calls to the organization that organized the camp and the hospital where it took place went unanswered. The botched operations draw attention to the poor state of healthcare in India, which has one of the lowest rates of public spending on medical care anywhere, according to the World Health Organization.