The move followed publication of a report in The Daily Star on Monday on the hordes of cats, rodents, flies and other insects and pests crawling all over the place due to the authorities' alleged indifference to cleanliness.

The authorities started the cat hunt since Tuesday evening, which continued until 1:30am yesterday, said Ward Master Abdus Salam of the hospital. A six-member team was formed equipped with 15 jute-sacks and 14 cat-catching tools to carry out the task.

Salam said, "We held more than a hundred cats from the 41 wards of the hospital following an order of the newly appointed director."

The cats were packed in five sacks and taken to an empty plot at Aminbazar. "We dropped them in that far away place so that they cannot come back to the hospital," Salam said.

The hospital still have a battalion of around 50 cats who jumped away and managed to escape the catchers during the hunt, some of the patients said.

The authorities have reportedly ordered its officials to continue the hunt until the hospital becomes a cat-free one.

Meanwhile, the DMCH authorities in a meeting yesterday ordered the ward masters to get rid of cockroaches and make the hospital clean.

Patients have been complaining that the DMCH management hardly cleans the wards, making those breeding grounds for cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies and other pests.