Among a bunch of hygiene-related concerns plaguing Nair Hospital at Bombay Central is the rat menace that has surfaced once again with at least two cases of bites reported in the last one month.
On Wednesday, a nurse was treated for rat bites she had suffered at the hospital, staffers here said. They also said that about a month ago, a diabetic patient was bitten by rats and he had started to bleed.
Officials said pest control was carried out across the hospital following the episode. “We have fitted anti-rat guard on drainage pipes; pest control officers have been brought in; the insecticide officer has been pressed into service; and open drainages have been sealed.” On Wednesday, a meeting of all departments was held to discuss the ways to address the menace and among the solutions suggested was placing a mouse trap in every ward.
But the staffers said these are half-baked measures given that the garbage problem remains unaddressed. A heap of garbage lies outside the ‘R building’, the hospital’s oncology department. Used bedsheets and polythene bags remain strewn on the corridors. Attendants of patients, who refuse to dispose of food leftovers in the dustbins, leaving it instead on the corridors, are compounding the problem.
The 1800-bed hospital that was founded in 1921 is undergoing renovation, and while that is much-needed, the construction is adding to the garbage piles.
“We have taken all measures. We have fitted metal nets and rat guards. In the rainy season, their numbers multiply faster. Besides, rats are entering from the Mumbai Central yard behind the hospital’s compound wall. We have written to the Western Railway about it,” said Dr. P. S. Agal, Deputy Dean of Nair Hospital.
Dean Dr. Ramesh Bharmal, too, attributed the menace to the railway yard, which he said had turned into a breeding ground. The hospital’s location too is to blame, he said, as there are eateries and huts around it.
Dr. Bharmal also said, “We have asked the canteen staff not to dispose of food or leave it unattended. We have asked the BMC to take action against illegal eateries and also asked for clean-up marshals to clean the hospital.”
But these problems are not restricted to Nair alone. “Nair is a hub for dengue. However, the same problems exist in civic hospitals across the State,” said Dr. Sagar Mundada, president, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors.
The writer is a freelance journalist
