Chandigarh, March 24 (IANS): A recent eye camp in Haryana's Panipat district, where 19 elderly patients got severe eye infection and could be facing blindness, was held without permission from the health as well as district authorities, state Health Minister Anil Vij said on Tuesday.

"NGO Samaj Sewa Samiti Samalkha, Panipat, has been running since about 1987 and was never registered with the District Blindness Control Society, Panipat," Vij said.

"The Samaj Sewa Samiti Samalkha, Panipat also has never ever taken any permission to hold eye camps," he told the assembly.

At least 18 out of the 19 affected patients are being treated at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here, and doctors are trying to save their vision.

Vij said a case has been registered against office bearers of the NGO, management of Navjeevan Hospital at Panipat and eye surgeon Ankur Gupta along with his support staff.

The state government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Vij said the eye surgery botch-up was due to the surgeon, the private hospital staff and the NGO.

Gupta had operated on the patients, mostly elderly people, on March 11 in Samalkha town of Panipat district, 175 km from here.