HYDERABAD: Morgues are not pleasant places at the best of times, but the ones in TS seem to be infested with rats and other vermin, disfiguring the bodies that have to be stored here temporarily.
On Friday morning, the body of three-month-old Gnathi Kishan from Kowdipally in Medak district was found to have been gnawed away by rats, particularly her right cheek and leg, while her body lay in the morgue of Narsapur hospital.
The body of 21-year-old U. Madhu, a housewife from Habeebnagar, was found to be similarly chewed up by rats at the mortuary of Osmania Hospital in Hyderabad on December 19.
The child had been unwell for two months but was not given any treatment. There was some marital discord between her parents.
Hospital authorities deny negligence
Three-month-old Gnathi Kishan from Kowdipally in Medak district died on Thursday while she was being fed. The husband alleged that the wife murdered their baby and so the wife insisted on a post-mortem.
The police registered a case under section 174 CrPC (suspicious death) and ordered a post-mortem.
Kishan and Surekha, the parents, residents of Bathukamma thanda in Kowdipally, say that there were no injury marks on their daughter which was duly corroborated by the police.
“Our daughter did not have any marks on her body. She was wrapped in a cloth and taken to the mortuary. I asked for a post-mortem only so that my husband wouldn’t say that I killed our baby due to negligence. I didn’t know it would result in this,” said the mother Surekha.
“We are yet to conduct an enquiry, but in a preliminary investigation it looks like a rodent that caused the injuries,” said a police official. The Narsapur hospital authorities have agreed to an investigation though they deny negligence on their part.
It was clear that when the baby was brought to the hospital she did not have these injury marks.
The incident at Osmania Hospital on December 19 last year was found to be due to negligence and two ward boys had been suspended for not locking up the unit box in which the body was kept.
Though the incident brought to the fore the need for pest control in government hospitals and the unhygienic conditions of mortuaries, no lessons have been learnt.
