THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A six-month-old Covid positive child was bitten by a rat while undergoing treatment for the disease in the Covid ward of Sree Avittam Thirunal Hospital (SAT) in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday night.The rat, believed to have entered through the window where the mesh was not intact, bit the child’s leg. The incident came to light on Monday morning when the child’s mother noticed redness on the leg where teeth marks were evident.
The child and the mother have been sent home for isolation following the incident as the former is asymptomatic. “In such cases, we follow a protocol and give anti-rabies injection to the person who suffered the bite,” said a top official at the hospital.
“We have had similar incidents before. The Kerala State Warehousing Corporation is in charge of exterminating the rats and needs to do it four times a year as per agreement. Since it’s a children’s hospital, we can only use mild rat killers ,” said the official.“Though we tried rat traps, they proved ineffective after a few days. Rat menace has come down in the hospital after the authorities stopped supply of food to all wards,” said the official.