translated from Spanish: Medical College: “We have seen patients who have lost their eye to the direct impact of a tear bomb”

The vice-resident of the Medical College, Patricio Meza, reported that more than 180 cases of people who suffered severe injuries, mainly due to the impact of Balinese. “The statistic is 139 patients who have been treated in the Eye Trauma Unit of Salvador Hospital. There are 42 that have been cared for in other hospitals or private centers, we have .1890 patients with serious sequelae and many of whom will lose sight in one eye,” he said in conversation with Cooperative Radio. The specialist explained that “open balloon trauma is two: one that has a sharp wound in the eye and was left open. The other is that the eye burst. It’s like you squeeze the eye that squeezes it and bursts it. It’s like squeezing a grape wedge and bursting it. A significant number of patients have an open eyeball by eye burst or penetrating wound. 80% of these patients are because of the impact of a balin.” He said when there is an eye burst, it is very difficult for the eye to repair. “Most of the time you have to empty the eye, so that eye is doomed to require a prosthesis.” The doctor indicated that the problem is because of the type of deuastive that Carabineros is using. “What colleagues have found are rubber balines of about 9 millimetres, some of them with metal center. The energy level he has is like destroying an eye. They are projectiles that cause a lot of damage, and if they are directed to the face and at close range, they are obviously going to cause irreparable damage such as the eye bursting,” he explained. Maza further said that the damage not only from balinese impact, “we have also seen patients who have lost their eye due to the direct impact of a tear bomb. There is supposed to be protocol for making use of the bomb, but according to the accounts they have been hit by thrown at a very short distance and straight from the waist up, and that causes damage, an eye burst.” He said, “We call for them to manifest themselves without violence. We say that we are concerned about both civilians and carabinieri. We can make a call not to drop Molotov bombs or not to throw stones, some may listen to us and others may not. But I can make a call to the CEO of carabinieri, because it’s up to him whether or not to continue using the Balines that are causing so much damage,” he said. “When we made the call, there were 44 patients. If they had listened to the call we would have avoided reaching more than 100 as we have right now,” he added. Finally, he stated that “unfortunately in Chile, in two weeks, we have had a greater number of cases than in any situation of social upheaval that has been presented in the world. The only global statistic that comes a little closer to what we have experienced in Chile, is a statistic from Israel where there were 155 patients with injured eyes in 6 years, we in two years have a higher number.”

Original source in Spanish