Mumbai: Shatabdi Hospital to go into self-cleaning mode with in-house laundry

The 444bed Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli is set to establish its own central sterile supply department CSSD within its premises This will allow the hospital to wash its laundry onsite instead of sending it to BMCrsquos central washing unit in Wadala once or twice a weekWith around 500 patients visiting its OPD and casualty department daily the hospital has been struggling to manage its laundry amid heavy patient flow ldquoWe not only have to treat regular casualties but being a government hospital we also have to attend to and treat medicolegal cases Due to this daily heavy flow of patients it becomes difficult for us to constantly keep changing the bedsheetsrdquo said Dr Nilesh Jadhav a medical officer at the hospitalLaundry machinery awaiting installation at the hospitalThe lack of clean linens increases the risk of infectious disease spread ldquoWards such as casualty gynaecology ICU and postoperative observation rooms require the most linen changes due to blood loss Though we use plastic and silicone sheets in postoperative rooms shortages force us to use bedsheets which can be unavailable if laundry isnrsquot delivered on timerdquo a senior nurse explainedSelfcleaning systemAs per the head of BMCrsquos main washing centre Chandrakant Ahire approximately six lakh linens are delivered per week from the 16 peripheral BMCrun hospitals for washing Currently Shatabdi Hospital sends its laundry once or sometimes twice a week which sometimes leads to delays in the services ldquoWhile the central laundry employees do collect and deliver the linens quite on time it just becomes a hassle to wait for them as days are not specified Sometimes they collect our linens on a Monday while sometimes they show up on a Thursday which disrupts the weekly management of the linensThough we do keep some extra linens it becomes a task when the weekly delivery gets delayedrdquo said a senior staff nurse responsible for this duty At present approximately 1800 to 2000 linen items are sent twice a week to BMCrsquos central laundry These include patient dresses staff uniforms bedsheets and pillow coversResponding to the issue Ahire said ldquoWe try to not have any delays in the washing and delivery of the linens However certain technical issues are not even in our hands because of which there might be some delays at timesrdquo Meanwhile Bhagwati Hospital laundry supervisor Suresh Rathod said ldquoThough this is a smaller hospital as compared to other hospitals like Shatabdi it faces the same problem If we have a washing unit closer to the hospital the process will be easier and fasterrdquoOfficial SpeakldquoSo far we have received such a proposal only from Shatabdi hospital BMC has sanctioned a total of Rs 10 crore for this project and the tendering process has been completedrdquo said Dr Chandrakant Pawar chief medical superintendent of BMCrsquos peripheral hospitals The tender sanctioned includes recruitment of staff to run the department for three years and also procurement of machinery and other materials required for the sameldquoWhile some basic washing machines have been procured we are yet to submit a detailed list of machines to the contractorsrdquo said the senior medical officer Apart from that KB Bhabha Hospital of Bandra is also planning to establish its own CSSD ldquoThis is planned as part of the second phase of hospital renovation We are yet to know if it will be outsourced and done in the PublicPrivate Partnership PPP model or we will have to do it completelyrdquo said Dr Vinod Khade senior medical officer at the hospitalThe medical officer of Shatabdi Hospital also mentioned that they may allow other hospitals in the vicinity to make use of this service once it is functional ldquoWhether to provide the service free of cost or whether to charge other hospitals is not decided yet But allowing other hospitals to use this service will definitely help in the smooth circulation of sterile linens within hospitalsrdquo said the medical officerThe department will enable the hospital topound Maintain an accurate record of the effectiveness of the cleaning disinfection and sterilisation processespound Avoid delays in linen managementpound Strive for uniformity and simplicity in the trays and sets that the department providespound Maintain an adequate inventory of supplies and equipmentpound Monitor and enforce controls necessary to prevent crossinfection according to infection control policiespound Establish and maintain sterile processing and distribution standardspound Operate efficiently resulting in a reduction of overhead expenses