Langoor on guard at SGPGI
LUCKNOW: : Known to have the state’s best doctors, the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) has a staff langoor too, to scare away monkeys.
Monkeys make a mess on the 500 acre campus, particularly in the hospital wing. Patients often complain that monkeys trouble them while they commute from the main gate to the OPD building or even from the parking area to the main building.
While doctors here get over Rs one lakh as monthly pay, the langoor gets about 40,000. Some people have complained that monkeys enter through the ducts of ACs or reach the wards by breaking
We are also mulling over the idea of hiring monkey catchers to end the menace. There has been no case of monkey bite but still we have to be cautious DR HEMCHANDR, SGPGI Medical superintendent
false ceilings and take away edibles . Often they cut wires and even fiddle with oxygen pipes.
If the sources are to be believed, the monkeys cause heavy loss to SGPGIMS every year.
An attendant, whose relative was admitted to the Critical Care Unit said, “It was a horrible experience to see a monkey entering the ward where all patients are serious. I too was shocked like the other attendants.”
People are scared to leave their edibles in the open even for a minute.
The monkeys here have become so bold that they even come inside the wards unchallenged by damaging the to duct area. But with a langoor as guard, there is some relief. It is said that at the very sight or smell of langoors ensures that the monkeys keep away. “There are some monkeys here, but they have never been a threat to anyone,” said medical superintendent SGPGIMS Dr Hemchandra.
“We have asked professionals for their advice about handling the monkeys. They told us that wherever there are langoors, the monkeys do not stay there. So, we decided to hire a langoor ,” he said . “We are also mulling over the idea of hiring monkey catchers to end the menace. There has been no case of monkey bite but still we have to be cautious,” he said.
However, other staff members say that monkeys keep on destroying ducts and wires, causing loss of lakhs .