Hygiene In A Seremban Hospital Questioned After A Rat Was Filmed Roaming Children's Ward
Health authorities are now probing the incident and said immediate measures will be taken to address it.
By Sabrina Zainal — 16 Mar 2022, 01:47 PM
Videos of a rat scurrying around what is reportedly the children's ward in a Seremban Hospital have gone viral, sparking concerns about the sanitary conditions in government health facilities
One of the videos, which is 12 seconds long, shows a rat hiding underneath a hospital bed where a child was sleeping. The other video catches the rat trying to climb up a hospital bed before scurrying away.
According to Dayana, the netizen who uploaded the videos on TikTok and Twitter on Sunday, 13 March, they were recorded when her sister was at the hospital with her child. The child was admitted because of COVID-19.
In a tweet, she said it was saddening to see the condition of the government hospital.
She said that a patient there had even screamed in fear of the rat. However, no action was taken despite reporting the incident to a nurse.
She went on to say that some netizens have criticised her for expecting a nurse to catch the rat
"Don't be manipulative and say things like 'Poor nurse, even catching rats is part of the job'," tweeted Dayana.
"Nobody is asking the nurse to catch the rat. We're just asking for help to report the matter to the management."
She added that not all government hospitals have hygiene issues as bad as the one seen in the videos. There are those that are very clean and the nurses are friendly with the patients.
However, she said there are also managements that consider the patients poor because they don't have to pay much at a government hospital, so they don't deserve good treatment.
"Government hospitals don't need to be luxurious. Clean and comfortable is enough. Cleanliness comes first," she wrote.
Health authorities are now probing the incident and said immediate measures will be taken to address it
Negeri Sembilan state health exco Veerapan Superamaniam said it was unacceptable to have pests in wards and has also asked for information from the health authorities how often pest control measures were carried out at these hospitals, reported The Star.
"This is a serious matter and I have already asked the state health director for a report," he added.
He said the matter needs to be addressed urgently as it could give rise to other problems.
"As of now, we still have no idea which hospital the incident took place in. We are investigating," he said.
Based on the viral Twitter post, the rat was allegedly spotted in the COVID-19 ward for women and children at Tunku Jaafar Seremban Hospital.
