‘Government hospitals are for the poor’

Outside a maternity ward, rodents scampered from one burrow to other at Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children (KGHWC) in Triplicane, Chennai.

Hiding behind a bin, some rodents were nibbling blood-stained bandages and leftovers.“These rats are a problem. They may cause diseases,” one person, whose wife was admitted in the maternity ward, said to me.

It seems the hospital staff have not learnt any lessons from the incident that occurred in August. A dead baby was bitten badly on the cheek by rats. Following this, nine hospital employees were suspended, including two doctors.

After that, the Chennai Corporation launched a drive to remove dogs, cats and rodents from Government hospitals.

I asked the resident medical officer, Dr Ramesh, about the rat menace in the hospital.

He pinned the blame on the garbage-polluted Cooum river:“The Cooum has become a breeding ground for rats.” The Cooum, which has five-foot wall on either side, runs opposite the hospital.

He said measures have been taken to rid the hospital of rodents, and the job has been outsourced to DE Plus, which has been given three months. The extension of their contract is contingent upon performance.

However, the Chennai Corporation has so far caught around 3000 rats, 500 dogs and 50 cats since it undertook a clean-up drive in government hospitals in September. Dr Ramesh said, “We have caught 40 dogs, 2 cats and 140 rats from the hospital premises over three months.”

In another part of the city, at the Department of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Government General Hospital, it was bizarre to see male and female patients using the same toilet on the fourth floor.

The ground floor of the building was full of water, making it difficult for patients to walk. Water also dripped from the second floor to the ground floor via the staircase.

I spoke with the Director of Medical Education Dr C. Vamsadhara about the rodent menace in hospitals. She said, “The Government has been putting lot of effort to keep the hospital clean. The Government will take some action on it.”

Regarding the rodent issue, she said, “Rats are everywhere, we can’t remove them within a few days. They come from the neighbourhood. The Government has taken some steps to eradicate this rat problem. Government hospitals are for the poor. People of every type come into hospital. It’s very difficult to deal with this problem.”

Commenting on the responsibility of the people, she said, “The main problem is our tradition of community life. One patient is accompanied by ten people. They create lot of pressure on the maintenance of a hospital. Public education is required to deal with the problem of lack of cleanliness.”

(Shivnarayan is a student of the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.)

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