A linen shortage problem at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has promped the Gauteng health department to appoint a team of infrastructure technicians to tackle the crisis.
A breakdown of in-house laundry machines has led to unwashed laundry piles up at the laundry of the hospital.
“A team of infrastructure technicians are working with the appointed contractor to restore the laundry service to its full capacity as speedily as possible,” Gauteng department of health spokesperson Motaletale Modiba said.
Modiba acknowledged that breakdown of the machines has temporarily affected the normal running of the laundry services.
“In the interim, the hospital’s linens are being laundered at Dunswart Laundries, where two teams of workers have been arranged to work both day and night shifts to ensure continuous supply of clean linen for patients.”
He said that the ageing machines at the hospital have reached their operational lifespan.
“Despite multiple repairs, the machines continue to fail, necessitating their complete replacement,” Modiba said.
Democratic Alliance (DA) member of the provincial legislature and the party’s health spokesperson, Jack Bloom, slammed the state of the hospital.
“Patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital are suffering from a linen shortage as the in-house laundry machines have been broken for a month,” Bloom said.
He alleged that some operations have been halted due to due delay in the laundry, which led to unwashed laundry piling up.
“The provincial Dunswart laundry is doing some of the linen, but it is inadequate and leads to delays in getting enough clean linen,” he said.
Bloom said that conditions in some of the wards were deteriorating as beds do not have clean linen, increasing the risks of infections.
Modiba said the department has submitted a report to the Gauteng Provincial Treasury (GPT) and the National Department of Health (NDoH) for funding for new laundry equipment to replace the old one.
Modiba emphasised that the provision of clean linen to patients remains a key priority.
“To date, the NDoH has approved the request by GDoH and the installation of new machines will commence as soon as funding is granted,” he said.
Modiba said while awaiting for funding, the department will continue making essential repairs to the existing machines to maintain operations at the laundry and minimise the impact on service delivery.
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