Here it is …. Rodents terrorize staff and patients in the Chest Disease (CD) Hospital, Srinagar
Rats Rattle CD Hospital
Shafat Farooq (Rising Kashmir)
Srinagar: While stray dogs have been hogging headlines, rats seem to be not far behind. Concerned by their growing number and increased activity, authorities at Chest
Disease Hospital, Dalgate have hired a rodent control agency to get rid of them.
“Rats can be seen jumping around in the wards causing inconvenience to patients, attendants and the hospital staff. Besides, they are carriers of infection so we need to get rid of them as soon as possible. The hospital is in desperate need of a pied piper,” said a senior official of the hospital, wishing not to be named.
The hospital authorities committee has been constituted in this regard which decided to hire a rodent control agency to clear the hospital of the rats.
“We have already approached a rodent control agency which has been approved by the purchasing committee. They will arrive here in next 10 days and after assessing the situation they will take action accordingly,” Medical Superintendent CD Hospital, Dr Mirza said.
“This is a big hospital and it will take some time for the team to clear the hospital of the rats. The team will measure all the areas where the rats have entered and they will be paid according to the space covered by them,” Mirza said.
Besides eating the eatables, rats have also bitten some people in the hospital while the officials have failed to curb their movement and population.
“I was in sleep and suddenly four rats swooped on me. I was lucky to be bitten only on my right foot. But the behavior of the authorities was more shocking as I was asked to go outside the hospital for treatment,” said Bashir Ahmed, who is attending his ailing father in the hospital.
He said they can’t sleep peacefully at night for fear of rats.
“It’s impossible to sleep in the hospital, particularly for the patients. Yesterday half of the bread kept in a drawer vanished,” Bashir said. About the complaints, Dr Mirza said, “They should take care of themselves. It is chest disease hospital, we can’t cure rat bites here.”
Presence of rats in hospitals is not uncommon. Rats nibbled on a 70-year-old paralysed man at a Jodhpur hospital in January earlier this year. The incident had evoked widespread concern with Rajasthan government coming in for strong criticism, especially from media.