mid-day Opinion: Keep municipal health facilities clean at all times

Representation pic

It is dial C for cleanliness as Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide directed officials to keep all municipal health facilities clean, encroachment-free, and well-maintained.

Reports stated that while reviewing the monthly departmental meeting at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters recently, Bhide directed assistant commissioners of all the wards to personally inspect health centres, dispensaries, ‘Aapla Dawakhana' clinics, polyclinics, maternity homes, speciality hospitals, and medical colleges in their respective wards regularly, apart from routine ward inspections. This is significant considering that BMC health facilities cater to more than two crore patients annually, reports stated.

The impression is that these facilities may have good medical staff, but fall short when it comes to overall hygiene, quality outside of the narrow confines of medical treatment. This must change by ensuring that the entire health package is looked at holistically. First of all, the physical structure of these institutions must be safe and well-painted. Timely repairs must be undertaken, instead of the perennial civic red tape where funds take ages to be released, and since repairs are not done in time, the structure becomes structurally more perilous.

The cornerstone of health is cleanliness. This, not just for patients but for caretakers, visitors and staffers. Unhygienic washrooms, waiting rooms and utilities mean that those simply accompanying the patient or employees may get compromised health-wise too. We need clean corridors, rooms, common areas and doctors' quarters which should be spick ‘n' span. The accent must be on cleanliness, not on luxury.