COIMBATORE: Much has been said about the callousness with which patients and the dead are being treated with in government hospitals.The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, which has been receiving flak recently for its unhygienic condition, was caught in in a fresh controversy on Tuesday after a video of a woman’s corpse being nibbled by a cat went viral on social media.The unidentified woman was being treated for a wound in the leg since November 16. On Tuesday, a video clip of a cat nibbling on the body of the semi-naked woman began doing the rounds on social media. The accompanying message said it was shot in a ward of the government hospital. CMCH authorities confirmed the image was clicked inside the women’s ward.“The woman was admitted to the hospital after she was found at the Mettupalayam bus stop on November 16 with a leg injury,” said a CMCH official. The woman died on Monday.DISGRACE: CMCH has confirmed that the video was shot inside the women’s wardHospital dean says the incident does not mean patients are unsafeThe body of the woman who died on Monday was found dumped on the floor in a corner of the ward. It was not taken to the hospital’s mortuary even by night.The cat nibbling on the body was noticed by Sadam while he was arguing with nurses for not treating his mother, admitted for an illness, properly. He captured the image on his camera and sent it to his WhatsApp contacts.Hospital dean Dr B Ashokan said a cat being found in the ward did not mean the hospital kept patients in unhygienic conditions.“We have been calling Coimbatore corporation officials regularly to remove stray cats and dogs from the campus. They have to remove these animals because we don’t have staff here to do those jobs,” he said during a press meet regarding this issue on Tuesday.“However, this does not mean that patients here are unsafe, kept in unsanitary conditions or treated wrongly,” he added. Two weeks ago, health minister Dr Vijaya Bhasker suspended four sanitary workers for not keeping bathrooms in the hospital clean. A week ago, TOI published a report on the unhygienic conditions in the ENT ward of the hospital.

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