Who shall be blamed for unhygienic Lal Ded hospital?

Srinagar, Jan 4: The valley’s premier maternity facility, Lal Ded Hospital, is struggling to maintain hygiene, with people and the administration holding each other guilty.
A common sight in the hospital premises is the attendants eating amidst stray dogs, stinking containers of medical waste, and ditches.
Boxes of garbage can been seen under or on the stairs inside the hospital. The washrooms are dirty enough to cause infection to the patients.
“Hospitals have to shape up and maintain very high standards of cleanliness. We can’t have disease coming from within the hospitals,” said an attendant at the hospital, pointing towards the ICU.
“This is the ICU. Our patients are already suffering infections, while these dirty conditions are risking their lives.”
Manzoor Ahmad, an attendant of a patient from Anantnag admitted to the ICU, said, “My wife has Hepatitis B, but I was shocked to see the condition of this room (ICU). I did not believe this is ICU.”
Shabeena, 30, a patient from Budgam said the unhygienic washrooms have worsened her health.
“I had complications during my pregnancy that is why I preferred this hospital, but the washrooms here are a torture for the patients. Whenever I go to the washroom, I start vomiting. I want to go home,” she said.
The patients said cats and rats were common visitors to the wards.
Sakeena Noor, a patient, said, “They are even present in the labour room.”
“Hospitals in the city should be clean. The patients are already prone to infections. And if trash is scattered all over the hospital, the risk of infection increases. The hospital administration needs to maintain the cleanliness of the hospital to ensure the safety of the patients,” she said.
However, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Nazir Malik, said that the people are also responsible for the uncleanliness of the hospital.
“Irresponsible behavior of the people causes sanitation problems in the hospital. Our workers are cleaning the hospital very actively. We are receiving hundreds of patients in this hospital. If people would cooperate then only there is a possibility of proper sanitation,” he said.