Patients and their relatives treat state-run hospitals like parks and guesthouses, lament government doctors, defending their filthy wards and garbage-strewn campuses.

Even as the four major government hospitals suffer the same reputation of being dirty, corrupt and inefficient, doctors blame the patients’ families for vandalising hospital property and misusing its resources.

“We have at least 8,000 out-patients walking into the hospital every day; and each of them brings along a minimum of four family members as attendants.

These people live on the campus, use the patients’ bathrooms, eat on the corridors and even wash and dry their clothes behind the hospital building,” complains a senior doctor at the government Stanley hospital.

“We do not have the security strength to keep a check on the number of attendants. Many families come from villages and neighboring districts; we cannot ask them to leave. They are too poor to afford hotel rooms,” he adds.

At the Rajiv Gandhi general hospital, doctors attempted to cut down the number of attendants by issuing just one ‘attendant pass’ per patient, as they were also worried about the increase in infection rates.

To their surprise, they found people photocopying the tiny slips of paper to gain entry into the hospital.

Stray dogs and cats have free reign over the hospital buildings, thanks to food discarded by visitors. While hazardous medical waste is supposed to be collected and disposed of separately, it is common to see the green corporation dumpster outside the Kasturba Gandhi hospital overflowing with bloody strips of gauze, needle sharps and slimy human tissue.

Meanwhile, waste generated by canteens and hospital kitchens are not collected on a daily basis—all reasons for the breeding of rats and other scavengers on the premises of the state-run hospitals.

The sprawling green campuses of the medical college-hospitals, many of them with British-era buildings unused and waiting to be demolished, also provide shelter to homeless people and squatters.

Several generations of a gypsy family live within the Gosha hospital and beggars who spend their days outside Central railway station stray into the Rajiv Gandhi government hospital to sleep.

Premier city hospital leaves patients angry

Non-functional lifts, paan-splattered walls, overflowing toilets and flickering tube lights — this is not a scene at a derelict warehouse but what patients face daily when they visit the state’s premier government hospital.

The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, established in 1772, was renovated and divided into two formidable tower blocks less than a decade back at a cost of Rs 105 crore but over the years the infrastructure and hygiene conditions here have deteriorated.

“The entire main complex does not have adequate drinking water facilities, forcing us to buy packaged water,” complained a patient.

Inflation seems to have hit the bribery racket as well; the ward boys in the hospital have increased their “tips” from Rs 20 to a minimum of Rs 50 for different errands, including shifting of patients within the hospital.

“As my husband is recuperating, he needed to be shifted to another ward. I had to pay the ward boy just to bring a wheelchair for him.

We tip the staff here because we are afraid that otherwise they will not help us during emergencies. Even if I want to complain, there is no specific place or person to approach,” said a patient’s wife.

Even as the non-availability of drinking water on several floors is a major inconvenience for poor patients, the unhygienic environs of the hospital and its campus pose a health hazard, especially for sick people with weak immunity.

Patients complain that toilet facilities are not satisfactory. “I wish the toilets were clean. If they are not able to clean them every day, they should employ more people,” said a patient.

Furthermore, unauthorised hawkers have set up businesses inside the hospital and make good money selling sub-standard food to visitors.

When asked about it, a policeman at the GH police station said “The pushcart tea shop is supposed to be a branch of the GH canteen. If anyone files a complaint about the bad quality of food, then we will take action.”

Drop in predator population increases rodent growth

The city has been a breeding ground for rodents with incidence of leptospirosis since 2000, disclose veterinarians and biologists.

Failure to implement zero waste management by the corporation and the disappearance of predators like snakes and birds of prey from concretised Chennai have helped the rat population grow.

The corporation, food corporation of India and Southern Railway which took efforts to control the rat menace over the past 10 years have only failed in their mission.

“Rat being a prolific breeder can only be controlled by predators like snakes and raptors (preying birds) and now with the predator population dwindling, the rodent population has certainly surged across the state,” opined herpetologist P. Kannan, assistant professor (wildlife biology), Ooty Government Arts College.

A pair of rats can produce 880 mice per annum and absence of snakes will certainly increase their population, he added.

Mr Kannan, who had also served in the Chennai Snake Park, points out that snakes have been wiped out from several pockets of the city and, hence, their prey base (rodents) thrive.

CM says IRulas will help CATCH rodents

Following the death of a 11-day-old girl and allegations that the baby’s body was bitten by a rat at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children, the government on Tuesday ordered suspension of nine persons, two of them doctors.

After a review with the health minister and other members of the health department, chief minister Jayalalithaa said, “Irulas who specialise in catching mice will be put on the job”, of keeping hospitals free of rodents.

Regarding the baby’s death, the chief minister had ordered a detailed probe and a report was submitted to her on Tuesday.

Quoting the report, she said once the child died, a nurse tied the baby’s body in a cloth and kept it in a cradle in a room instead of keeping it in the morgue as per procedure.

The following day when the father came to receive the body, they found injuries on the baby’s face. “The body was not properly maintained in the mortuary, following which nine hospital staff were suspended,” she said.

In order to clarify all doubts, the child’s body has been sent for autopsy. It was decided at the review meeting that the sanitary staff in the hospital should make sure that dogs, cats or rodents do not enter or breed on the premises and Irulas “will be put on the job”, she said.

Visitors should not consume food inside the hospital and mobile food stalls should be removed. Visitors would be allowed only during visiting hours.

PIL filed to keep hospitals tidy

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras high court to direct the state government to issue directions to all government and private hospitals in the state to keep their premises neat and tidy and free from rodents and animals like dog, cat and rat.

In his PIL filed through advocate R.Y. George Williams, C. Sadayan, a conductor, submitted that recently the newspapers published news about the death of a 11-day-old girl in Kasturba Gandhi Government Hospital popularly known as Gosha hospital.

When the kith and kin of the baby went to the hospital to collect the body of the baby, they found a chunk of flesh from the baby’s face missing and thereby the baby’s face was found to be in a disfigured state and when they enquired the nurse, who was on duty, they were informed that a rat or cat might have bitten the baby.

But, the hospital authorities denied that the baby had died due to rat bite and cause of death of the baby according to them was septicaemia (blood poisoning).

When a patient is in intensive care unit, the doctor and hospital staff are expected to exercise utmost care to the patient since the relatives of the patients are not permitted to be beside the patient.

The baby’s body was found in a pathetic condition; there was something fishy in her death and therefore in the interest of public at large and to prevent similar incidents in future, it is necessary that the court has to order proper investigation in this case.

The news report reveals that the hospital was a place for dogs, cats and rats to live and sleep with patients. The hospital premises have to be kept in neat and tidy condition.

Hence it is necessary to give specific directions to all hospital authorities not to allow this menace since our Indian constitution guarantees every citizen to live with dignity, he added.