Elderly woman patient dies of alleged rat bite in Govt hospital ICU in Thane
An 89-year-old woman admitted to the ICU of a Government-run hospital in Maharashtra's Thane district died after allegedly being bitten by a rat, officials said on Tuesday.
The woman, identified as Suhasini Mathekar, was admitted to the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Hospital in Mira Bhayandar on March 12 and placed on a ventilator.
According to her family, they discovered on the morning of March 16 that a rat had bitten the octogenarian's right hand, causing a deep wound and significant blood loss. She passed away later that afternoon. The incident has triggered outrage over hygiene standards at the facility. A senior doctor at the hospital said the woman, prima facie, died of a rat bite in the ICU. “The family has alleged that medical staff failed to notice the rodent in a highly monitored area like the ICU. We have registered a case of accidental death for now,” a local police official said. Responding to the allegations, the hospital management attributed the “rat menace” to ongoing construction activities in the vicinity, claiming that rodent preventive measures were already in place.
As an immediate measure, a doctor and a nurse have been transferred out of the hospital.
The management has ordered a high-level enquiry into the incident to fix accountability and audit the facility's sanitation protocols.
