If hygiene is not basic in hospitals, where else then?

Representation pic

The family of a 38-year-old man who died by suicide recently was further traumatised by the negligence of a civic hospital in Kandivli. The man's body which was in the hospital, was gnawed at by rats. The hospital has claimed that the body was kept in a room adjacent to the mortuary.

The family said when it was discovered that he was hanging by a rope, the body was taken to a Kandivli hospital, which officially declared him dead. The body was to be shifted to another hospital for a post-mortem.

As formalities, the police and family arrived at the hospital to transport the body for the autopsy.

When the shroud was taken off, the family and police were shocked to see that the nose, forehead, head, and private parts were gnawed by rats in the room where the body was kept.

A senior doctor did say that rats had made their way to the room where the body was kept. The room's wooden partitions have since been repaired.

Every hospital, civic or private, needs to have hygiene at the top of their healthcare priority pyramid. We have read in the past too, that certain civic facilities were battling with a rat menace, and rats had chewed a patient's foot during the nighttime. We have witnessed cats prowling around civic facilities at times, even getting into waiting rooms, etc.

We need to have administrations ensuring that basic though facilities may be at these institutions, there can be absolutely no compromise on cleanliness. One can only imagine the agony of loved ones, who may witness something like this, or even of patients who may suffer a rat bite on these premises.

There is little to be said about technological advances in healthcare when our on-ground situation is very bad. Let us get our fundamentals spot on, that is the very basis of good health.