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Top Hospital washes linen with river water

(Mid-Day, January 30, 1998)

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Linen belonging to the prestigious Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital is washed on the banks of the Mula-Mutha, opposite Bund Garden every month.

Pardeshi Laundry of Yerawada Bazar are contractors for the Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital and M N Budhrani Cancer Institute.

When this reporter visited the site, some 700 items, ranging from surgeons gowns to bed linen, patients’ pyjamas, shirts, gowns and napkins lay on the rocky banks.

The polluted water of the river had been used to wash this linen.

Vimalbai Pardeshi (55), one of the main washerwomen of the laundry, said, “We come at 4 a.m. and use the spring water accumulated overnight. Pointing to a puddle, which has by now become completely muddle, she continued: “This water is crystal clear at 4 a.m. and subsequently becomes dirty after several hundred washings.”

Surprisingly there is no law at the civic level to control hygiene levels of hospital linen.

Dr. Anil Ravetkar, medical officer of health at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, “All hospitals are governed by the Bombay Nursing Home Registration Act. But this does not cover the issue of linen in minute detail. Washing is normally the sole responsibility of the hospitals.”

Ravetkar said hospitals did not have to report to the PMC, but when probed further, he said, “However, if there is a complaint or a case of gross negligence, we can take action.”

This action could involve a fine, prosecution and in serious cases could result in the cancellation of the hospital’s registration.

At the linen room at Inlaks and Budhrani Hospital and M N Budhrani Cancer Institute, Surendran Nair, Stores and Accounting Manager, goes about directing subordinates. A ward boy counts the number of bedsheets, while another counts the clothes.
They are all neatly ironed and stacked up on a series of shelves.

Nair says, “We have three contractors who undertake our laundry work. WE expect them to use PMC water and good quality detergents. Cleanliness is of prime importance to us.”

He admits that monitoring these contractors has been impossible. “We have never carried out any checks.” Nair, however, said, “If we find anyone washing linen with river water, we shall sack them with immediate effect.”

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