RATS NIBBLE PATIENTS’ FLESH AT MBABANE GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

MBABANE – Health hazard!

Rats have taken over the Mbabane Government Hospital. *Claudia, a female patient who was admitted to Ward 15 had gone there to be treated but instead, her legs were said to have been bitten by rats. After the incident, she was then moved to Ward 18 before being discharged last Monday. She is just one of the patients who had parts of her body nibbled on by rats, that seem to have infested the hospital.

Noteworthy, rats like many other rodents can carry diseases, which are deadly enough to kill. They also attract venomous snakes whose bites are deadly to humans. Patients who are admitted to various wards at the referral hospital are now concerned that the huge rats nibble away at their toes.

Another woman, who said she was taking care of a relative, admitted to the hospital, revealed that a boy who was also admitted to the hospital was also bitten by rats that left him with sores on his legs. She said it appeared the rats were targeting patients with injuries, particularly those who were not able to move their limbs.

It was also gathered that some patients were not able to move or feel their legs and that the rats ended up biting and eating small chunks of their flesh. This was also the case with Claudia, who was first admitted to Ward 15 and then transferred after the rats ate some flesh from her legs, leaving her with sores.

Claudia had been admitted to the hospital for a condition that will not be mentioned for ethical reasons.
After noticing that her legs had bite marks and noticing rats in the vicinity, she requested to be moved to another ward. It was then that she was moved to Ward 18. After the incident, a pest control team is said to have been roped in and several of the rats were exterminated last Tuesday. However, this publication gathered that there were still more rats roaming from ward to ward at the hospital.

Authorised

Hospital officials who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media on behalf of the health centre, said the rats also moved within the drainage pipes and found their way into the hospital at night.
They said some patients have even resorted to trying to stay awake at night so that rats do not get near them.
According to the patients, the rats are mainly in certain wards, especially Ward 15.

They said this was most likely because of the food that was sometimes kept in the wards.
They said during the night time, when the patients were asleep, large rats roamed freely and were aggressive.
*Jomo, who was looking after a relative said he had never seen so many rats in his life and was shocked to learn that this was daily nightlife at the hospital.

“Even when you approach the rodents they do not run away like the ones in scary movies,” he said.
Further, Jomo also complained that the cause could be a combination of overgrown grass and the food in the wards.
He said the other challenge was that the hospital also had many small open spaces where the rats are said to be hiding.

There are also fears that the rats could eat the flesh from some of the bodies kept in the mortuary.
Noteworthy, about 10 years ago, a funeral was stopped after a family discovered that the toes from the body of a deceased member of the family had bite marks resembling mice or rats.

Suspected

The body had been kept at one of the mortuaries in Siteki. Initially, family members suspected that there had been some rituals performed on the body of their family member. However, it was later discovered that it was the rats that had eaten part of her toes. This was also confirmed by a pathologist, who had carried out a post-mortem on the body.
The pathologist confirmed that looking at the area where the flesh appeared to have been removed, there was a possibility it was inflicted by a rodent.

*Pseudonym used to protect the identity of the patient for ethical reasons.

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