Dogs roam freely in Chest Disease hospital, authorities unmoved

Valleys oldest and lone chest diseases Hospital at Dalgate, is facing serious sanitation issues as canines are found roaming around within the hospital compound raising serious questions over the cleanliness of the hospital.
Given the nature of the hospital where extra care is to be taken while dealing with the patients so that they and even their attendants do not catch any infection, authorities within the hospital seems to be ignoring the grave issue.
Just outside the OPD block of the hospital stray dogs can been seen roaming around and some can be seen eating thrown away food items—right in front of the block—where hundreds of patients come on regular basis for follow ups and other diagnostic tests.
“I don’t understand if this is a hospital or something else, you see, there are stray dogs everywhere,” said Farida, who was accompanying her father in the hospital, adding that what is the difference between footpath and the compound of this hospital.
When this reporter visited the hospital, the dogs where roaming even on the upper side of the hospital where the old building of the hospital is located, which is known as ward number-1, in addition to this, the kitchen where the attendants cook food for themselves is also surrounded by these stray dogs.
Hospital authorities as of now seem not doing anything to curb the dog menace, as they said that they have written to Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to do the needful.
The sanitation supervisor, of the hospital Muhammad Yousuf said that with the large scale construction going on within the hospital compound it is difficult to curb the dog menace within the compound.
“You see, there is construction going on every side, it makes our job of keeping the place clean, difficult,” he said.
The walkway going up to the administrative block stands dirty, with dogs defecating right on the sides of the walkway.
According to sanitation supervisor, they hospital authorities have written to SMC officials asking them to depute a team to curb the dog menace in the hospital. However, SMC is yet to respond to the call.
“We have written to SMC some 20 days ago, but they have still not sent the team to the hospital,” Muhammad Yousuf said.
When contacted SMC Commissioner, Dr Shafqat Khan said they are on it and the menace will be tackled soon.
“We are receiving calls from different departments regarding the dog menace, we are on it and soon it will be taken care of,” he told Kashmir Vision.

 

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