Sefako Makgatho students receive eye treatment after lab session

A group of third-year bachelor of pharmacy students at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University have had to take a break from their studies.

This after they had to be treated for eyesight-related complications after a session at the laboratory.

The university says the lab in question has been closed pending an investigation, adding that a university doctor continues to keep an eye on the affected students.

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University Director of Communications and Marketing Lusani Netshitomboni said, "What has happened is that we had about 58 students, one lecturer, one lab technician and one lab facilitator who were in the laboratory, basically busy with their experiments or lab work that they are normally expected to do."

"What has then transpired is that after the lab work, a lot of them, about 31 at that stage, the number has since grown by three to about 34, suffered from problems with their eyes, others had blurred vision, others had red eyes, others were dry in their eyes, immediately after that the university took them to local hospitals for them to get immediate medical attention."

"What we did, was to make sure that that facility is closed and sealed off so that we can begin to investigate the actual cause of the problem and make sure that this doesn't happen again in the future."