Patient Bitten By Rats In Telangana Hospital ICU Dies

A 38-year-old man left bleeding by rats inside the respiratory intensive care unit (ICU) of Warangal's MGM Hospital, and subsequently shifted to Hyderabad's NIMS Hospital, died shortly after midnight last night.

Director of Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr K Manohar, told NDTV that Srinivas had a history of chronic alcoholism. His liver pancreas and kidneys were badly affected. He was already on ventilator and had suffered a cardiac attack twice before, once at a private hospital and again at MGM.

"Even on the way to NIMS, he suffered a heart attack and came with a very poor pulse and BP (blood pressure)," he said. "The death happened due to these complications and not due to rat bite," he said.

Patients and public are, however, enraged and shocked at the state of affairs at MGM Hospital, one of the most prestigious government hospitals in Telangana.

Srikant, brother of Srinivas, said the incident happened on March 30. "We thought it is our fate. We have no option but to suffer this. But when the rats bit my brother this time, he was bleeding badly. The bed was blood-soaked, so I complained," said the attendant.

Following the shocking incident, the respiratory ICU head of department had been suspended and the hospital superintendent transferred. Two duty doctors whose contract ends this month were also removed.

The contractor responsible for sanitation has been blacklisted, said E Dayakar, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister who visited the hospital.

Patients and staff say the ICU has been rat infested because of a drainage that has been under repair. Rat bites and nibbles are fairly common, they said.

A nurse on duty also said if they were not vigilant even a few minutes, rats would cause havoc. "Nothing we can do as the drainage work is under repair," she said.