26 July 2010
Apart from attending to patients, doctors will devote additional time to spruce up the hospital premises
Paan-stains and trash litter a corridor at KEM Hospital. About 300 doctors have decided to join the cleaning up campaign from Monday
Mumbai Mirror had reported on Sunday that the doctors, worried about the health of their patients and fed up of the filth, are planning to clean the place up themselves.
Paan-stains and trash litter not just the common areas like corridors and elevators but even sensitive sections like the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and the cardiac surgery department.
Corners have piles of discarded tobacco sachets, cigarette packets, water bottles and plastic and paper cups even though the hospital has dustbins on each floor and in front of each department. The piles of garbage have turned into mosquito breeding sites. Paper used by visitors to sit or eat on is all over the floor.
Mirror also caught people spitting and washing their hands on the premises. We caught Ramesh Shinde, a relative of a patient, leaning over the wall of the second floor so he could spit. When told that it was against the rules and he could be fined for it, he apologised and made a few excuses.
Another visitor washed his hands after his lunch on the corridor of the first floor. A middle-aged man was caught spitting right outside the MICU. When caught, he refused to be identified and said, "My relative is in the MICU. I am tense and hence did not realise what I was doing."
Clothes of patients’ relatives left to dry on the grills of the hospital corridor. RIGHT: Some of them eating outside an ICU
With this drive, the doctors hope to motivate visitors to be better-mannered and the cleaning staff to be more conscientious. Dange said the sweepers and cleaners were often absent and when present they did only one round of cleaning, which was not enough.
Representing the Class IV workers of the hospital, President of Karmachari Kamgar Sena Sunil Chitnis said, "We can’t clean more than this. There is a shortage of staff. Also, we are unable to cope with the workload because the hospital has too many patients. Almost 10,000 visitors come here every day. They sit around all day and eat and sleep here."
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.
