Cockroach in Thane Civic Hospital’s Operating Room Halts Surgery

Senior orthopaedic surgeon Dr Sanjay Baranwal was carrying out a leg surgery on a 45-year-old man in Thane’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj hospital, when he noticed a cockroach moving around in the operating theatre.

Baranwal then halted the procedure and recorded the pest’s movements in order to draw the attention of the administration towards an issue that has been plaguing the hospital for months now, Mumbai Mirror reported. The hospital is run by the Thane Municipal Corporation.

The doctor had previously made several complaints about the poor, unhygienic and dangerous conditions in which patients were being treated. However, little has been done to clean and disinfect key facilities, the publication reported.

According to senior doctors, 25% of the patients who have been operated in the hospital have complaints of post-operative infections.

The bizarre series of events also throws light at the lack of protocol for surgical care laid down by the World Health Organisation at these hospitals. According to the protocol, disinfection and sterilisation of the operating theatre and equipment is one of the prerequisites.

(Source: Mumbai Mirror)