Mumbai: Once again the peripheral hospital of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come under scrutiny after a cockroach was found moving around the bedsheet of the patients in the maternal ward of the Shatabdi Hospital, Govandi.
On Tuesday morning, a video of the maternity ward of the hospital surfaced, in which a woman is sitting on the bed and big cockroaches are seen moving around the bedsheet.
Patients complain its not the first time they are facing problem due to cockroaches. Earlier also they had complain about it as it can affect the newborns, but it has been learnt no appropriate action was taken to resolve this problem.
“We face problem while sleeping as cockroaches often roam here on beds and sometimes it enters the food which we are supposed to eat. Most of the time we have to be awake so that the newborns should not be affected due to cockroaches.
There is only one ward in this hospital where the mother-child is kept after pre and post delivery. Due to less space, delivery is also done here many times. In such a situation, such negligence on the safety of children is inviting big trouble,” she said.
According to information received from the hospital, pest control is done once a week (spraying) but after increasing cockroach problem it was done twice a week.On Monday also they had sprayed but then also there was no respite from the cockroaches.
“We had informed the pest control department about the cockroaches in the maternal ward. Since there are small children in the maternity ward, they cannot spray much as it will affect their health,
so they decided to spray special type of gel from Tuesday which will reduce the problem. Once it has been sprayed there will be no cockroach for six months,” Dr Alka Mane, medical superintendent of the hospital, said
According to the World Health Organisation, because cockroaches feed on food and human faeces, they can spread germs which can lead to diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, leprosy, poliomyelitis, typhoid fever and allergic reactions, specially in newborns who have low immunity.
“Cockroaches are in touch with water, which, if contaminated, can cause bacterial or viral infections like rota virus or all water-borne diseases. It is difficult to trace the cause to cockroach whenever patients contract such infections,” said Dr Om Srivastava, infectious diseases expert, Jaslok hospital.
