Rat infestation a public health nightmare

Rats the size of newborn babies. That is how patients, doctors and nurses describe an ongoing rat infestation at Dora Nginza Hospital. For the past year, they have had run-ins with rodents roaming the halls of one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s biggest hospitals and, despite staff complaining repeatedly, nothing has been done.

We have read many horror stories from around SA over the years of rats terrorising communities, even killing babies, but fortunately there have been no incidents so far of rats biting people at Dora Nginza or any other damage of the type caused by rats.

But surely this situation cannot be allowed to degenerate even further to that point?

As the metro’s public health directorate’s solid waste assistant manager, Andisiwe Mcasa, said just a few weeks ago during a clean-up of the Njoli Square area, rats can carry diseases that are harmful to people and all it takes is one major infestation to affect the entire city.

While sometimes kept as pets and even being used in some post-war countries to detect landmines, rats have also been known to plague society for centuries. Their ability to rapidly multiply, infiltrate buildings and squeeze into tight spaces make them particularly pesty and pesky.

Apart from the obvious hygiene and health hazards, rats can chew through electrical wiring, causing power outages and posing a fire hazard.

Imagine how much more devastating the impact of an infestation in a public hospital where the health of vulnerable patients including babies is already compromised as they are seeking medical attention.

Imagine the impact of rats gnawing through the wiring of expensive, life-saving hospital equipment, especially at Dora Nginza, which has been plagued by equipment shortages.

Eastern Cape health spokesperson Yonela Dekeda said the rat problem was being treated with urgency, with a fumigation contractor on site.

While we welcome the intervention, it should never have taken this long. There have been complaints for months and officials should have acted immediately.