Mumbai: In a first, the BMC along with contractual rat killers eliminated more than 800 rats in the past 15 days. These rodents were found inside the hospital premises and its environs. Recently, the civic body started a rat eradication campaign at the civic-run medical facilities after a senior health official spotted rats during his surprise visit to a hospital.
As per the data, more than 2.81 lakh rats have been killed from January till date across 24 wards of the city; which means on an average 1,412 targets were eliminated. If calculated for the fortnight, the count of approximately 800 translated into a daily average of around 54 rats.
The BMC's campaign focused on four major civic-run hospitals and 16 peripheral hospitals. “In the last 15 days, we have killed 821 rats found in the premises of hospitals. Around 17 rat killers, who are hired on contractual basis, were also part of the odd job,” said an official from the pesticide department.
The menace of rats in civic-run hospitals can be gauged from the shocking incident of 2018 when they gnawed the right eye of a comatose patient at the Jogeshwari Trauma Centre. “During monsoon, it's often seen that rats get inside ground floor wards which house emergency/casualty units, raising concerns over hygiene and chances of leptospirosis. However, we can't use rat poisons as kids are also present in the hospital,” said a resident doctor from the Nair Hospital.
Since 2016, more than 60 people have succumbed to leptospirosis in Mumbai. The BMC has ‘rat labourers’ who work in two shifts. Under the monsoon drive, which begins in March, over 1,000 rats are killed daily across the city.
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