Hyderabad: In a classic case of the government’s indifference to health issues, medical case sheets of patients at the MNJ Cancer Hospital are being eaten away by rats or are soaking in water from leaking drain pipes.

Senior oncologists say that compiling data of the incidence of actual burden of cancer from the government sector has become difficult as the records of patients are not computerised and are carelessly stored.

A senior post-graduate student on condition of anonymity said, “Medical case sheets of patients who are part of our research thesis are photocopied and we keep a data bank at home. This is important as there are constant complaints about rats eating away the documents.”

The hospital administration says pest control is done but there is too much food strewn around. “Despite putting up boards and placards requesting them to not throw food in the passage way, relatives of patients continue to do so. There are even bins placed all along,” said a hospital official.

The hospital has no personnel to tabulate the data; only rare cases or those being used for research purposes are fed into computers. Other medical records are dumped in a store room.

A senior oncologist lamented that today, when data and numbers can give the exact prevalence of the disease, “We don’t have a mechanism in place to record the cases that we are treating on a daily basis. To add to our woes, there are rats eating away the sheets, so the actual incidence can't be gauged.”