Patients bitten: SHRC raps BMC over rat menace in hospital

The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of multiple incidents of patients being bitten by rats in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital, Kandivali, in October this year.

At the hearing on Monday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was pulled up for not ensuring patients’ safety and failing to control the rat menace in the civic hospital.

In October, two women patients were bitten by rats while undergoing treatment. The first person was a paralysed 68-year-old woman, Pramila Nerulkar, who was bitten on her left eye on October 3. The second person was Shantaben Jadhav, a senior citizen with a fractured foot and diabetes. She was bitten on the leg by a rat, two days after Nerulkar was bitten.

According to a medical officer in the hospital, the menace of rats was faced on the first floor, in the female medicine and female orthopaedic wards. Officials have claimed that despite being a recently constructed hospital, crevices in the walls of the wards created openings for rats to dwell. After the patients were bitten, the hospital administration placed two rat traps.

On Monday, the BMC informed the commission that a committee, including pest officers, had been constituted to look into the matter.

Additional rat traps were also placed in wards since chemical treatment could affect patients. The commission observed that a lot of garbage was dumped right outside the hospital, which gave way to “unhygienic environment” and increased the menace of rats.

The BMC was directed to submit a report on work undertaken to curb the rat menace. A special team of pesticide officers has also been appointed to ensure rats do not enter the hospital building.