DOCTORS In This Malaysian Hospital Are So Used To Rats, They Call Them Pets

Patients and their minders spoke of their experiences with the rodents scurrying practically everywhere in the wards of the 12-storey building, scrounging for food at pantries, on beds and on the floors, oblivious to human presence.

Why the well-known problem has persisted for so long is a cause of wonder to many visitors and others like the young mother of a brain damaged four-year-old girl who related the story of the “missing fish cracker”.

“I left the keropok on my daughter’s bed table and when I returned it was gone. At first I thought somebody had taken it but during the night I found out it was the mice after I saw it moving in the dark under the bed."

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“I brought this up with the nurses and doctors but was told that this sort of thing was common in the wards and everyone was used to it,” added the housewife, whose five-year-old son said he saw mice running all over the place.

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The aunt of an 11-month-old girl who was admitted for pneumonia said she saw mice on the reclining chairs, in the baby cots and near child minders sleeping on the floor.

The housewife, who declined to be named, said she saw a mouse sniffing her daughter’s plastic oxygen mask and got the nurse to replace it.

The woman who did not want to be identified added: “I spoke to a doctor about this and she laughingly told me that the mice are treated like pets in the ward.”

Mice and rats are infesting the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital here and the management seems helpless to do anything about the “invasion”. The hospital, which was built in 1983, has had this pest problem for some 10 years now.

Apart from the mice in the wards, rats were found at the main cafeteria of the university complex, according to a hospital spokesman.

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The food outlets just 30m away is a breeding ground for rats which then “migrated” to the hospital through underground burrows and sewage pipes.

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”Our initial findings are that the sewer rats hiding in the drainage system have found their way to the hospital from the nearby business centre. We have tried to solve the problem of rats hiding in the suspended ceiling by cutting off their entry and exit points but to no avail.

“We have engaged a pest control company to rid the hospital of rats.” The spokesman said the hospital was getting help from the USM main campus in Penang to study the problem and recommend the next course of action.

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Port Klang-based pest control expert with over 30 years experience, Ang Tan Loong, said the rodents at the hospital were probably from the commonhouse mouse or Mus muculus family.

Ang said that a formula for roughly guessing the population of house mice at a place was to multiply by 10 each pair seen. “The common house mouse has a five-year lifespan and the female can produce a litter of four in a three-month gestation period,” said Ang, who is president of the Federation of South-East Asia Fumigators.

Ang said sewer rats can do untold damage to the electrical wiring and centralised air-conditioning system apart from being the cause of leptospirosis transmitted by their urine and droppings.

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The Malaysian Medical Association has urged Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian to take swift action and stop the rat infestation in the hospital.

President of the MMA, Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan said rats were nocturnal animals and were only visible when they had become overpopulated within their confined space. “By then, their numbers could be in the thousands,”

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“How a hospital has come to this state of affairs is really shocking and appalling. This is embarrassing and shameful.” He said the rat infestation showed that HUSM had low hygiene standards.

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“The main cause appears to be food and rubbish being thrown around,” he pointed out.

“The ward pantries and kitchens are important areas that should be kept clean at all times. Likewise, the wards and toilets,” he added.

The prevention efforts should include covering garbage cans with tight-fitting lids, removing sources of open water and ensuring open spaces were free of trash, Dr Tharmaseelan said.

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“Holes in the ground and walls should also be sealed and floor drains fastened to keep rats from entering through sewers.”

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DO SOMETHING: Make an official complaint via the Ministry of Health website. [CLICK HERE]

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