Ludhiana Civil Hospital’s mother and child care wing has been facing a severe rat infestation which has making the patient’s stay at the hospital difficult. There are reports of the rats climbing on the beds and biting the patients. Not only this, the rats have also been devouring the patients’ food and were seen dragging away the utensils brought from home by the patients’ loved ones. As per reports, the hospital had to involve a zoology team from Punjab Agricultural University to help contain the infestation.
A recent video from the hospital showed nearly 10-15 rats devouring a plate of food. A patient named Ritu said that the ward where she was staying was menaced by rats the whole night after her delivery. As per sources it was informed that the hospital supervisor misbehaved with the journalists and tried to stop the coverage and Ritu from giving information. Another patient, Sushma informed that the rats even pull off the blankets from the patients at night. Rat feces would also be present in the patient trolleys.
The situation had reached a point where the hospital’s false ceiling had collapsed multiple times due to the constant scurrying of rodents, forcing authorities to remove it and expose the ducts.
The patients inform that it is very difficult to stay in the civil hospital in these circumstances. Newborn children are at the risk of infection while the number of rats in the hospital reaches about 60 to 80 at night. Reportedly there are colonies of rats in the hospital from where theycrawl out of to wreak havoc in the night. Any attempts to keep the rats away fail as even after cleaning the wards, they keep on returning. Raja Ram, whose wife has been admitted to the hospital informed that the rats even bite the relatives of patients sleeping on the ground at night.
Senior officials have been notified of these issues following which talks were held with the Zoology Department of PAU. Senior Medical officer, Deepika Goyal informs that attempts are being made to eradicate the rats with medicine. An earlier survey of the scene was also conducted by PAU earlier on March 18. Reports suggest that the PAU team is planning to dig pits with movable gates around the hospital so that rats could slip into them and not escape.