18 May,2011 10:32 AM IST | | Priyanka Vora
Flouting the infection control policy, dirty and blood-smeared surgery attire are spread out to dry outside the gynae ward's OT, without undergoing the necessary cleaning process
KEM Hospital, which has recently spent a prohibitive amount on extensive renovations, seems to be in an experimental mood when it comes to measures of cleanliness.
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The surgery gowns kept outside the gynaecology ward at KEM Hospital.
When MiD DAY visited the hospital yesterday, about ten soiled gowns, discarded after a surgery by doctors and attendants of the gynaecology department, were lying unattended in the passage outside the operation theatre (OT).
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This is a flagrant violation of the infection control policy that is to be stringently followed by all hospitals.
Also strewn on the passage floor were the masks, which had been used by the surgeons and nurses. Upon enquiry with the staff member outside the gynaecology OT, it was revealed that he had seen gowns in the passage earlier as well. "I do not know why the gowns have been spread out in this fashion here."
The OT in question is located on the ground floor of the hospital's recently renovated gynaecology department.
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While the authorities have spent exorbitant amounts on special steel chairs right outside the OT, they seem to have forgotten that the smooth running of the entire medical system hinges upon the practice of certain basic measures of hygiene and cleanliness.
According to the standard rules mentioned in the infection control policy, the clothes worn in the operation theatre by doctors and attendants should be sent to the laundry section, before being sent back to the OT. Once there, they are sterilised in an autoclave, after which surgeons and attendants put them on.
However, KEM Hospital's OT seems to have developed a convenient new protocol, wherein the soiled, often blood-stained gowns are spread out, presumably to dry, in the open passage outside the OT, attracting germs and spreading infection.
A senior doctor of the hospital said, "The fact that the gowns are being spread out on passage ways to dry raises an important question. Are they being sent to the laundry section at all? The hospital authorities have failed to follow sterilisation protocol, thereby exposing patients to severe infections."
Expert speak
A senior microbiologist, said, "The soiled gowns should be passed through a sluicing machine, where they are disinfected, and then sent for washing. Following this, they are autoclaved. Only then are they fit to be worn. "
The Other Side
When contacted, Dr Sanjay Oak, Dean of KEM Hospital said, "This is not the routine practice. We don't keep OT gowns outside the theatre. Since it is a holiday today, I am not within the hospital premises, but I will look into the matter tomorrow morning."
Dr S V Parulekar, Head of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department of KEM Hospital, said, "I am at home and cannot entertain queries from any media person."
