An alleged rat infestation at the West Demerara Regional Hospital (WDRH) has sparked outrage.
The video, which was posted on Friday on Facebook shows rats scurrying about on a bed.
The Sunday Stabroek was unable to contact the Minister of Health for a comment.
This newspaper also spoke to a source at WDRH who did not doubt that the video was filmed at their hospital. The source mentioned that the last extermination was in February of this year. They added that the facility manager and nurses reported the presence of rodents in the hospital, particularly in the female ward, on Thursday. By the time the video surfaced on Friday, an extermination team was already addressing the issue. The hospital had informed the Ministry of Health about the dire situation, and it was suggested that exterminations be done every six weeks instead of the usual three months.
The source attributed the increase in rodents to the heavy rainfall and the hospital’s proximity to a squatting area, a burial ground, and a funeral parlour located just behind the hospital. They also suggested that the surge in rodents might be due to a poor extermination job done by the company.
One of the netizens, Diana C De Abreu commented, “And is not even just 1 is the whole family,” while Morisa Fleming added, “And they building roads and brightening up seawall and YES that is a very good thing, I must agree with that, but take care of the poor people too, some people in Guyana is suffering. They need good government health care and give the poor people food stamps so they can survive too.”
