Master plan for CMCH clean
Collector Neeraj Mittal (second left) chairing discussions on improving sanitation at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the city on Tuesday.A master plan will be drawn up in a month for initiating efforts to turn the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) clean, Collector Neeraj Mittal told presspersons on Tuesday.After the first meeting of the Environment and Sanitation Committee at the hospital, the Collector said every key component of sanitation would have individual action plans.The committee was constituted recently by the State Government to take efforts for total sanitation in its hospitals. The Collector is the Chairman of the committee and Dean of the CMCH Hemalatha Ganapathy its Member-Secretary.The Collector, the Dean, officials of the Department of Health, Coimbatore Corporation and other agencies concerned with the infrastructure and sanitation at the hospital took part in the meeting.Restricting the number of visitors for patients, putting up boards with a message to sensitise people to need for cleanliness and installing more dustbins were some of the measures listed by the Collector. “I have asked the Dean to divide the hospital into zones, a doctor each being in charge of these,” Mr. Mittal said.
A register on the maintenance would be kept and this would be checked by the committee.“There is a huge environmental load on the 20-acre hospital with 68 buildings. On an average, there are 10,000 people in the hospital at any given time, he said.The Collector explained this by saying that the hospital had 6,000 out-patients a day and 1,500 in-patients.The visitors for the in-patients were about 2,000. This put a lot of stress on facilities such as toilets.Food waste was dumped into the storm water drains.“The first major task is to spread awareness among the visitors on the need for a clean hospital. We will put up boards that will ask them not to spit on the premises.As for food waste, we have asked the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore to provide more bins,” Mr. Mittal said.The association had already provided some bins for this purpose.
The Collector now wanted more bins so that people from one ward need not walk long distances to dispose of waste.When asked who would remove the waste from the bins if they were full, the Collector suggested to the Dean that the mobile phone number of the hospital sanitary officer could be painted on them. “Each bin can have a number. Anyone can inform the officer using the short messaging service (SMS) by mentioning the bin number also. This will help remove quickly the garbage from the bins that are full.” The Collector also asked RAAC to identify spots where effective microbe solution could be sprayed to eliminate stench from drainage.
The problem of drainage stagnation was being dealt with. But, the spraying could provide temporary relief till a permanent solution to the problem was found in three to six months.“The Public Works Department (PWD) has drawn up estimates for Rs.20 lakh to correct a problem in the drainage that leads to a backflow of waste water into the hospital.Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy has also offered to contribute from his constituency development fund,” the Collector said.The PWD would also clean the overhead tanks to ensure good water. They would also have to get a certificate from the Dean after carrying this out.
Mr. Mittal also suggested to the Dean that a panel of doctors could be formed to interact constantly with organisations that could sponsor equipment useful in sanitation.“One such sponsor in Pollachi has provided 100 electronic fly and insect traps to primary health centres,” he said.As for restricting the number of visitors and issuing passes to them, he said the hospital would first have to study its feasibility as this measure required a large workforce.Asked whether the Government would provide funds for the sanitation programme in the hospital, the Collector said that if the hospital provided 30 per cent of the cost, the rest could be provided by the district administration under the Namakku Naame scheme. The Hospital Maintenance Fund of the CMCH could also be used, the Dean said.
