A newborn baby has died after being bitten by rats in an Indian hospital.

The boy was born on 17th August at a government-run hospital in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in the south east of the country, and transferred to the paediatric ward to be treated for a lung problem, according the Indian Telegraph.

The baby’s mother, Lakshmi, said: “Early on Sunday morning my son started crying. As we are not allowed to stand next to the incubator, I urged the nurses to check on him.

"By the time they did, rats had eaten away the fingers of his right hand and also the eye.”

He was then transferred to the ICU where he was later declared dead.

The incident took place at a government run hospital in the south eastern city of Vijayawada (Google Maps)

His father, Chavali Nagaraju Babu, then alleged that the hospital in the city of Vijayawada added insult to injury by telling him he “need not worry as [he has] another son”.

Hospital chief Dr Venugopala Rao told the Hindu newspaper: "The presence of rodents had come to our notice on Monday morning and I asked the engineering wing to carry out repairs to the false ceiling, but unfortunately the rodents attacked the newborn."