She woke up her husband and washed the wound with antiseptic. "Then I noticed blood stains on the bedsheet. I checked up and found bites on the big and little toe of my left foot ... in all, six bites on my hands and feet".

They informed the nurse who in turn told the doctor and next morning a tetanus injection was administered to her. No anti-rabies vaccination has been administered.

Sharma is only the most recent patient to come in contact with rats. According to a ward aide: "The hospital has as many rats as patients. The private wards and children's wards are said to be particularly infested although it is unusual to see the rodents during the daytime. "They usually wait until night to come out and feast on food littered on the floors," the ward aide remarks.

The irony of the Sharma case is that the patient's husband, K.K. Sharma, is acting head of the PGI Sanitation Department.

PGI Medical Superintendent Dr D. Behera denies knowledge of this incident but admits that rats are found in the hospital. "We take necessary precautions such as spraying insecticides at the regular intervals and laying rat-traps, but the rats persist. In a way, the patients are themselves responsible for the infestation of rats and coakroaches as they leave the eatables around. It only takes one person with dirty habits to draw vermin into the wards. If people clean up themselves, you will not see rats and cockroaches".