mid-day editorial: Hospitals should treat patients with more care

This paper's report on a rat biting a coma patient in his eye has left the city shaken. The 27-year-old patient, who has been lying in a vegetative state for over a month at Jogeshwari Trauma Centre, has now developed an ulcer in his right eye. Currently, he is undergoing treatment in ICU. To add insult to injury, the patient's relatives have alleged that a staffer misbehaved with them when they sought to complain about the injury, although the hospital denied all the claims.

While the staffer's alleged misbehaviour is unconfirmed, there is no denying the deplorable levels of hygiene in many civic-run medical centres across the city. There has to be much more stress on cleanliness and hospital managements must hold a non-negotiable stance in this matter. The shortage of doctors and funds crunch are well-known, but there should at least be enough support staff to keep the hospitals clean.

Because of overcrowding, at times, even the visitors' toilets are unusable. There are stray cats and dogs in the foyer, where visitors wait. One can only imagine the level of infection in these facilities, and how it plays havoc with patients who trust the hospitals to rid them of disease.

It may not be easy, but the clamour for cleanliness must come from the hospital management, who can ask for more staff and put rules in place to ensure that the centres stay clean. The administration of all the hospitals can come together, since there is strength in numbers, and petition the authorities to give them the arsenal to ensure their facilities are spick and span.

Cleanliness needs to be the primary prerequisite in any and every medical centre, otherwise you are defeating the very purpose of treatment.

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