Alcohol bottles, sanitary pads populate the restroom of govt hospitals!

Team Udayavani, May 22, 2019, 3:48 PM IST

Mangaluru: The restroom at the government Wenlock hospital is populated with alcohol bottles. The relatives accompanying the patient drink alcohol and dispose-off the bottles at the restroom in the hospital which is now becoming a major headache for the hospital.

Daily, around 2,000 patients get treated at the government Wenlock hospital as in-patient and out-patient. People from various locations of the state including DK, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Udupi and even Kerala come to this hospital for treatment. The relatives who accompany the patient remain with the patient until their discharge. Some of them, who come to the hospital in this way come equipped with bottles of alcohol, consume it at the premises and dispose the bottles in the restroom. This has been occurring since some time. Although there are enough warning signs in the hospital cautioning against reckless disposal of garbage, no one is paying attention, says the hospital officers. Hence, the removal of empty alcohol bottles has become a big headache for the cleanliness workers here.

Sanitary pad found in toilet!

If the restroom at Wenlock hospital is fertile with alcohol bottles, the toilets at other government hospitals like Lady Goshen are populated with sanitary pads. The careless disposing of sanitary pads into the toilets regularly blocks the sewage consequently leading to the overflow of waste from the toilets.

Government Lady Goshen hospital has 288 beds capacity of which, 155 are for pregnant women and 65 are for those suffering from uterine diseases. Currently, there are 200 patients here receiving treatment. Post pregnancy, the patients make use of sanitary pads for blood flow and uterine diseases. Later, instead of disposing the used sanitary pads at the dustbin provided in the restroom, they attempt to dispose it via the toilet. Besides, plastic items, bottles and soap covers are also disposed through the same portal. This leads to blocking of the sewage and causing other problem. Meanwhile, due to the blockage, waste is overflowing, informs the hospital expressing helplessness.

Installed warning signs

Even though warning signs have been installed at both the restrooms, the disposal of alcohol bottles, sanitary pads and other garbage via the toilet persists. Because of this plague, the hospital inevitably is compelled to procure sucking machine from the city corporation for cleaning purposes every once in three or four days.

Pad destroyer machine

“There is a though to install pad destroyer machine which burns and destroys sanitary pads at Lady Goshen hospital. The machine costs around Rs 25,000. But there is doubt whether after the installation of the machine, will the patients make use of it or stick to their original mode of disposal,” says Dr Savita, Medical superintendent

Useless waste

“Various useless wastes like alcohol bottles, plastic, soaps and others are disposed off in the toilets of the hospital. Although warning signs have been installed, they seem to be ineffective. Cleanliness has become a major headache,” explains Dr Rajeshwari Devi, Medical Superintendent, Wenlock Hospital

Hands washed onto the plates, disposed into the dustbin!

Since most of the inmates at Lady Goshen hospital are pregnant women, during labour they find it hard to move. On such an occasion, if the patient has food, they tend to wash their hands in the plates and instead of draining the water into the sink; they end up disposing it into the plastic bag kept to collect garbage. When the cleaners pick up these bags and shift them, water leaks from the bags and gives rise to offensive smells. Besides, it causes problem to cleanliness workers as well.

Dustbin has been placed

“Since the used sanitary pads are being disposed into the toilets, they are getting blocked. They are not being disposed into the dustbin kept in the restroom. Repeated warnings have also failed to bring the situation under control,” Dr Savita, Medical Superintendent, District Government Lady Goshen Hospital

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