Rats roaming in and around civic-run hospitals have become a big issue in Mumbai. But for the first time, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has culled over 800 rats in 15 days from its hospital premises for patients’ safety under pre-monsoon programmes.In congested places like Mumbai, rats are the main source of leptospirosis in humans especially in monsoon, which is a huge cause for concern.
In the last 15 days, a total of 821 rats have been killed from the premises of these civic hospitals,” said a senior health officer. When asked if the department would also catch rats from inside the hospital, the officer replied, “It is daily work where the hospital staffers place rat traps to catch rats inside the hospitals. But not much heed was paid to the rats roaming outside—which during monsoon get inside the hospitals, then start breeding.”
Since 2016, over 60 people have succumbed to leptospirosis in Mumbai—a bacterial infection that spreads via the urine of infected animals such as rats and cattle. During monsoon, when the sewers overflow, the rats’ urine can mix with the accumulated water, which commuters are forced to wade into, causing infection. It has killed more people than mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.
Doctors from BMC hospitals share that during monsoon, the rats get inside wards of the ground floors which houses emergency/casualty wards, raising concerns over hygiene and chances of infections. “We often see rats in the hospital corridors. We can’t use rat poison inside a hospital. Rats also get into the student hostels and the rooms stink,” said a resident doctor from Nair Hospital. Not only that, but rats also find their way into morgues at civic hospitals.