A day after the Chennai Corporation launched a drive to remove rats and dogs from the premises of government hospitals and public places in the city, the civic body managed to recover the carcasses of around 600 rats and capture nearly 25 dogs from hospitals.
On Wednesday, the Corporation had launched a drive to unearth the burrows of rats on hospital premises. According to the Corporation officials, workers were employed in all the 15 zones between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday to lay rat traps. Around 248 teams of three workers each scouted 28 government hospitals, 47 Corporation dispensaries and family welfare centres, 77 markets, 33 bus stations and 80 godowns. Workers were deployed in 30 commercial complexes and 7,031 rat traps set. On Thursday, 587 dead rats were collected. A Corporation health official said the traps would be set again to remove all rodents from the vicinity.
Dog catchers captured 12 dogs from the premises of the children’s hospital attached to the Institute of Child Health and the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Around 10 dogs were rounded up from Government Stanley Hospital in Mint. According to a release from the Corporation, the effort would be continued for a fortnight.
The drive was taken up on the directions of the Chief Minister who ordered that hygiene be improved in all the hospital campuses in the State. The instruction was in the wake of a recent incident at the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children in Triplicane where the body of an infant was found with injuries on it Visitors to the hospital and patient attendants had also complained of the menace of rats and dogs on the campus.
Meanwhile, a health inspector attached to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital was suspended on Thursday for not doing enough to maintain cleanliness. The Health Minister V.S. Vijay, who had come to the hospital to participate in a function, conducted a surprise check and found the hospital wanting in cleanliness, his office said.
