Lack of hygiene at civic hospitals take a toll on staff health

Additionally, as many as 43 employees from Sewri TB hospital were diagnosed with TB in the quarterly screening conducted in December last year.

The worst situation was reported in Nair hospital, where 78 employees contracted one of three diseases, followed by KEM with 31 cases and Sion with 26 cases.

A senior doctor from KEM said the figures were under-reported as several doctors contracting malaria treated themselves without reporting it to the hospital. “Class IV employees also seldom report if they contract TB due to the social stigma attached with it,” the doctor said.

In Nair hospital alone, 20 employees contracted dengue, another 40 malaria and 18 TB in 2013. While civic officials say the employees could have contracted the disease outside the hospital, employees blame the lack of cleanliness.

Dr Manish Girgaon, member of Medical Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), said, “Last year, there were very few fogging exercises in Nair hospital. Only when our fellow resident Dr Sumedh Pazare succumbed to dengue in December 2013 did the dean ordered regular fogging to prevent mosquito breeding. Now the situation has improved a lot.”

Resident doctors have frequently complained about the lack of cleanliness in hostels as well. According to the RTI data, of the 135 employees who fell ill due to dengue, malaria or TB, 60 were doctors. During an inspection of Nair hospital’s hostel toilets earlier this year, MARD found that the defunct flush had become breeding homes of mosquitoes.

While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is blamed for not keeping the hospitals clean, Nair hospital’s dean Dr R N Bharmal said patients and residents also needed to maintain civic responsibility in keeping the premises clean. “The civic hospitals are cleaned thrice a day. In hostels, we have sweepers too. Sometimes, patients litter the corridors.”

An assistant dean from another hospital also said, “Patients should also have basic civic sense. A sweeper can’t keep wiping off tobacco stains that visitors randomly spit.”

Apart from the issue of cleanliness, the reason for the rise in TB cases, specially multi-drug resistant incidences, has been primarily due to an improper diet. Nurses and class IV employees from the three tertiary hospitals have demanded free meals, a facility only doctors get currently.

Currently, Sewri TB hospital is the only civic-run hospital where the entire staff, including nurses and class IV employees, can avail of free breakfast.

However, BMC’s additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh said, “Providing free breakfast to nurses and class IV employees requires huge expenditure. It will cost us Rs 9,000 per person per year. I suggest they should try to make provision for their own lunch boxes.”

“In terms of mosquito breeding, we are already conducting fogging. But it is also advised that too much fogging is harmful for a hospital’s environment,” Deshmukh said.

tabassum.barnagarwala@expressindia.com

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