Mumbai: Sion Hospital has found a laundry, barely a month after several surgeries had to be cancelled for want of fresh linen. The hospital has outsourced 50% of its washing (1,281 clothes a day) to a private agency for the next three years at a cost of ₹1.31 crore.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation runs several public hospitals including Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, popularly known as Sion Hospital.
Hospital linen, patients’ clothes, doctors’ surgical robes need to be washed every 24 hours for infection control. Municipal hospital clothes are supposed to be washed at its municipal power laundry but since the laundry is inundated with washing, it was decided that around 10% of the washing be outsourced.
For the past three years, a private agency has been doing the 10% work at Sion Hospital but the arrangement fell through since the municipal laundry is severely short-staffed and the load fell on the private agency. The agency's contract ended before the stipulated time as it had already washed the maximum number of clothes. Since the municipal laundry is not in a position to take the load, the hospital has been managing with the help of temporary contractors. The hospital had invited bids to outsource 50% of the job, including washing around 1,281 clothes, ironing and returning them within 72 hours.
It finalised M/s S.R. Wargante Cleaners Pvt Ltd. “We would have outsourced only 10% of the job but considering the increased volume, decided to outsource 50%. The rest will be done in the municipal laundry,” said Dr. Jayshree Mondkar, Dean, Sion Hospital.
A proposal will be put forth before the Standing Committee on Wednesday.