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India News | Rats Gnaw Feet of Mentally Ill Patients in Jodhpur Govt Hospital, Admin Sets Up Inquiry Committee

Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Following repeated complaints of rats gnawing feet of patients in the psychiatry department of the MDM Hospital here, the administration on Monday set up an inquiry committee to look into the matter.

India News | Rats Gnaw Feet of Mentally Ill Patients in Jodhpur Govt Hospital, Admin Sets Up Inquiry Committee

Jodhpur, Jul 3 (PTI) Following repeated complaints of rats gnawing feet of patients in the psychiatry department of the MDM Hospital here, the administration on Monday set up an inquiry committee to look into the matter.

The family members of at least four mentally ill patients complained about similar incidents in the past week, prompting the Mathura Das Mathur (MDM) Hospital administration to intervene.

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“We have constituted a committee, which will first ascertain if the injuries sustained by the patients in the psychiatry department have been caused by rats or due to any other reason,” Dilip Kachhwaha, Principal and Controller of SN Medical College and associated group of hospitals in Jodhpur, said.

Even as necessary steps will be taken based on the report, the hospital administration has been directed to initiate action against Rajasthan Pest Control, the agency responsible for pest control in the hospital, Kachhwaha said.

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Stating that there are risks involved in pesticide spray in the psychiatry ward considering the medical condition of the patients, the administration said it has decided to evacuate the ward.

The MDM hospital, which is Jodhpur division's largest government hospital, has become a home to rats with ongoing construction work and food waste littered on the floor providing a conducive habitat to the rodents.

Owing to the unhygienic conditions and open pits and craters, the population of rats at the hospital has been constantly increasing but there has been no action by the pest control agency, nor the administration, hospital sources said.

Referring to the latest incident, the head of the psychiatry department said he had warned the administration about the issue of the increasing rat population in the ward.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)