By KEILE CAMPBELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kcampbell@tribunemedia.net
THE Public Hospitals Authority apologised on Saturday after a video showed a rat crawling through an area of Princess Margaret Hospital, prompting pest-control measures, sanitation work and environmental inspections.
The footage shows the rodent moving from a hallway into what appears to be a hospital ward containing beds, climbing onto a hospital scale and then returning down the corridor.
The PHA did not identify the section of the hospital where the rat was seen or say when the video was recorded. The authority said an initial review had identified possible entry points, some of which were linked to ongoing construction at the hospital.
It said those areas were being secured and corrective measures were being implemented.
The authority said immediate pest-control, sanitation and environmental inspections were underway, along with increased monitoring of the affected and surrounding areas.
PHA and PMH officials were also working with the Ministry of Environmental Health on further assessments and measures to address the problem.
“The PHA takes this matter seriously,” the authority said, “and remains committed to maintaining a safe, clean, and well-maintained healthcare environment for all patients, staff, and visitors.”
Comments
tell_it_like_it_is 12 hours, 31 minutes ago
Rat? They sure that's not a guinea pig! lol
He looks like he's big, eating well, and healthy (probably unlike the patients there).🤦♂️
Cobalt 12 hours, 28 minutes ago
This story is an accurate depiction of what the Bahamas truly is. Sand, Sun and Sea, my ass. In reality we are a rat-infested dump. Rodents run wild, criminals run wild, corruption runs wild, dilapidated infrastructure runs wild, and incompetence runs wild. A failed government constructed by a failed people. And around and around we go.
Cobalt 11 hours, 54 minutes ago
Imagine all of the immunocompromised patients in hospital diagnosed with Neutropenia, Leukemia or HIV who can’t produce sufficient White Blood Cells to combat infection, being subjected to disease-transmitting vectors such as rodents. Imagine an organ-transplant patient taking immunosuppressants or a neutropenic patient diagnosed with Lymphoma, having a big rat next to them.
The Ministry of Health, the PHA, and the PMH should all be sued for this. This is unacceptable. But I guess I shouldn’t expect the rats to police the rats.
IslandWarrior 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
I have lived in my community in the west for more than 55 years, and I have never seen this level of rodent — RAT — infestation.
I had to move my pets’ feeding area to an enclosed porch because the rats have become so aggressive and fearless. They would literally run the pets away from their food because their numbers outnumber the pets.
Now they are coming inside the porch and getting into the food-storage area, showing absolutely no fear of human presence.
And this is just one more of the many ills that seem to be befalling The Bahamas:
Vehicles unfit for road use. Power-supply instability. Widespread rat infestation. Stray dogs attacking people and tourists.
And should I mention the murders?
Or have we simply accepted the daily killings as another new norm of our so-called “laid-back” Bahamian lifestyle?
At some point, we have to stop treating each of these things as an isolated incident and start asking the larger question:
What is happening to the basic standards of life, public safety, sanitation and governance in The Bahamas?
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