Infant's nose bitten by rat; action against 2 hospital staff

A month-old baby boy was bitten by a rat at the district hospital here, prompting the authorities to suspend a staff nurse and terminate services of the baby's caretaker.

The baby's nose was bitten by the rodent two-three days back, but the matter came to light on Thursday after action was taken against the hospital staff. The child was born at a private hospital about one-and-a-half month back, but after his health deteriorated his parents admitted him in Dhar district hospital and later disappeared, civil surgeon Dr CS Gangrade said.

During treatment at the district hospital, a rat bit the baby's nose in the Children's Intensive Care Unit, he said. Gangrade said that taking serious note of the matter, he suspended staff nurse Sonali Bhide and terminated the services of caretaker Asha Rathore on Thursday. In a similar incident, a ten-day-old boy had died after being bitten by rats in the intensive care unit of Guntur Government General Hospital in Andhra Pradesh last month.