Mongrels take biopsies8217; at JJ Hospital

MUMBAI, SEPT 3: It was a stray query that was almost lost amid the deluge of problems fielded at the Janata Din, the citizens' forum orga...

MUMBAI, SEPT 3: It was a stray query that was almost lost amid the deluge of problems fielded at the Janata Din, the citizens8217; forum organised by the state government, on August 23: Could the government please muzzle the 400-odd mongrels who have laid seige to JJ Hospital and are terrorising the staff and patients at the city8217;s government-run medical hospital?

The desperate plea was made by a group of JJ doctors who had attended the Janata Din as the last resort. They said the hospital authorities have been fighting a losing battle against the mutts, whose numbers have mysteriously multiplied recently.

The dogs have been snapping at everyone in the 40-acre campus, which also houses the Grant Medical College; paitents are being kept awake by their nocturnal howling; and even medical staff on emergency call at night are reluctant to report for duty.

Relatives of patients have complained to the hospital authorities, saying the dogs, who roam in packs, tear at the tiffin boxes they bring, at times forcingthem to abandon the edibles and medicines before fleeing. One case of dog-bite has already been reported, hospital authorities say. The animals, whose sadistic antics have the nurses in the hospital building terrified, have also reduced the security staff to a bunch of cowering prey.

Hospital authorities suspect that residents from surrounding residential buildings have been deliberately encouraging their pets to roam the JJ campus to forage for food, never mind if that includes bite-size portions of the human anatomy.

Repeated complaints to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC have drawn a blank, hospital authorities say, which is what prompted the doctors to attend the Janata Din. However, they failed to make any headway there as well.

N C Pillai, in charge of the Mahalaxmi municipal dog pound, told Express Newsline he is aware of the problem. He says he has been receiving complaints from other public hospitals as well. However, he says, all the municipal authorities can do is catch andsterilise the dogs.

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Dean of JJ Hospital, Dr A C Mohanty, told Express Newsline that the staff and patients have been making repeated complaints to the municipal authorities but nothing has been done till date.