Hospital cleanliness generally has a poor reputation. It’s the place where you’d hope the most stringent hygienic standards were being maintained, but a lack of staff has meant that hospitals are often left in unimaginable conditions.
Yet San Paolo hospital in Naples, Italy, seems to have plummeted to new depths, triggering a nationwide scandal. At this medical center, a woman suffering from septic shock following a fracture woke up to find something truly horrifying between the sheets of her bed: hundreds of tiny ants!
It’s not known whether hospital staff or the woman’s relatives discovered the insect infestation first, or indeed who took the revealing photo. But when a member of parliament from the opposition Green Party published the image online, it was met with national outcry and sparked a heated debate on conditions in Italian hospitals.
Dr. Vito Rago, the sanitation manger at the hospital, is said to be «very ashamed» and has arranged for a pest controller to take care of the infestation.
Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin has assembled a special investigative team to find out why hygiene levels have reached such lows. Meanwhile, the state attorney’s office in Naples has launched an investigation into the hospital.
How disgusting and shocking. Hopefully, the situation won’t get any worse for the poor woman.
