Rats BIte Baby to Death In Indian Hospital

A newborn in a southern Indian state died after being bit by rodents. The parents alleged hospital staff's to prevent the incident.

According to HNGN, the 10-day old infant sustained fatal injuries to his chest, eyes and fingers before succumbing. The baby was born in the state of Andhra Pradesh and was transferred to a public hospital in Guntur city as he had to be treated for a congenital condition. It was here that parents first noticed that rats had attacked the newborn.

"Early on Sunday morning, my son started crying. As we are not allowed to stand next to the incubator, I urged the nurses to check on him. By the time they did, rats had eaten away the fingers of his right hand and also the eye," the baby's mother, Lakshmi Nagaraju, reportedly said.

The hospital later shifted the newborn to an intensive care unit but the child had died soon after. Parents claimed that the hospital did not do much to prevent the death of their child despite complaints and even alleged the staff asked them not to worry about the death of their child as they have another one.

The hospital administration admitted rodents killed the infant but claimed efforts were made to prevent the incident.

"The presence of rodents had come to our notice on Monday morning and I asked the engineering wing to carry out repairs to the false ceiling, but unfortunately this morning, the rodents attacked the newborn again," said Dr. T. Venugopala Rao, the hospital's superintendent.