Rajasthan: Rats gnaw paralyzed women's eyelid at govt hospital; Speaker Birla meets victim

In a shocking incident from Rajasthan, rats gnawed at the eyelid of a paralyzed woman undergoing treatment in an Intensive Care Unit of a government hospital in the Kota region.

Responding to the incident, Samir Tondon, Deputy Superintendant at MBS Hospital, Kota, said, “Roopvati Bai is a 55-year-old patient who is admitted to the stroke unit for the past 45 days. She is suffering from Guillain-Barré syndrome. Last night, a rat bit her in her right eye. We will probe the incident.”

He further added, "We'll probe. We've monthly pesticide control. If anything like that happened, it's the responsibility of the staff. Her attendant was with her."

LS Speaker Om Birla visits Kota hospital to meet victim

Following the incident, Lok Sabha speaker and BJP leader Om Birla visited the government hospital and met the victim admitted in Kota of Rajasthan. 

While speaking to media, Om Birla said, “Such an incident in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is very disturbing. ICU in any hospital should be clean and hygienic. I have asked the hospital administration to request other ministers to visit the hospital and examine conditions here. Any lack of facilities in the hospital should be met with.”

Doctors to probe into rat attack incident 

As per the latest update pertaining to the incident, the government hospital authority set up a three-member panel of doctors to probe into the incident. MBS Hospital Superintendent Naveen Saxena, in a preliminary report to Kota’s additional district magistrate, said “Roopwati’s eyelid was nibbled at by rats at around 3 am” as alleged by her husband. 

Roopwati’s husband Bhati, meanwhile, said that his wife has been undergoing treatment at the Stroke Unit of the hospital and was taken off the ventilator only two days ago.

“She can neither move her limbs nor speak following the paralytic attack”, Bhati said, adding that on Monday night, he had put a piece of cloth on his wife’s face so that she could sleep peacefully without getting disturbed by light. 

He further added that he woke up to his wife’s sobbing at 3 am on Tuesday and on removing the cloth, he found her face covered with blood, oozing out of the eyelid wound.

Bhati further said that he immediately informed the duty doctor who said some insects have bitten the eyelid and administered primary treatment while another team of doctors dressed the wound on Tuesday morning.