The MGM Medical College and Hospital. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

The government has pumped in money for the upgradation of the MGM Medical College & Hospital. But even then, treatment facilities have deteriorated over the past year. One of the most conspicuous examples is the operation theatre of the hospital. Many patients who come here for operations are prone to infections.

Some of them even develop post-operation complications because the conditions of the operation theatres have worsened since the day renovation work began in the hospital.

As a member of the medical college hospital’s vigilance committee, I have to keep an eye on everything. While checking on the day-to-day activity of the hospital, I have gathered that the management has overlooked many important things.

Fumigation of operation theatres is one such area. Though I am not a technical expert or an authority on the subject, yet what I have gathered from rule-books and medical manuals is that the operation theatre of any hospital or medical institution must be fumigated once in a year.

After fumigation, the authorities are supposed to obtain a virus-free certificate from an authorised pathologist.

Fumigating operation theatres mean that hospital authorities have to keep operation activities suspended for at least three days during which the entire operation theatres are washed and sprayed with different types of chemicals.

Going by fumigation rules, floors of the operation theatres must be washed with detergent powder, followed by a combination of carbolic acid and water. Subsequently, the operation theatre has to be sprayed with a chemical known as Baccilaocide Special. It is only after that the room is fumigated with formalin and kept shut for the next 48 hours.

The process does not end here. The OT has to be cleaned after 48 hours. This includes the floor, ceiling and other apparatus, which have to be tested in an authorised laboratory. Only after getting a negative certificate about the presence of bacteria can hospital authorities resume operations. The process of fumigation has to be carried out every year because according to the Medical Council of India (MCI), an operation theatre becomes unfit for use within 365 days.

But as far as I know the operation theatres of MGM Medical college hospital have never been fumigated. At best, the authorities might have sprayed Baygon spray or DDT in the operation theatres.

I am making this claim after having gone through the official records where there is no mention of any fumigation in any of the 10 operation theatres of the medical college hospital according to MCI standards.

I am focussing on this issue because the medical college hospital is fast becoming a major centre of treatment for the rural populace.

Therefore upgrading the hospital should not be confined to increasing the number of beds and vehicles only, but also in bringing about a qualitative change in the over-all scenario.

Ever since I assumed additional charge as superintendent of MGM Medical College Hospital, I have come across many problems. I understand that the medical college hospital has never been in a good shape. But things have changed tremendously since the past year and no one can deny it.

However, a section of people has been busy highlighting only the failures of the hospital. Criticism of any public institution is good, but over-doing anything is bad.

Some people related to the medical college hospital have been raising the issue of fumigation of operation theatres. One thing should be clear before going into the details of the issue: This is a medical college hospital where students learn and conduct practicals. Though students of the MGM Medical College go to the Tata Main Hospital for laboratory work, that does not mean that the medical college authorities neglect their own set.

The medical college hospital has all facilities that should be there in any teaching hospital, except for a blood bank and an intensive care unit. The hospital has 10 operation theatres and all are functioning effectively. But the question is whether these operation theatres get fumigated regularly or not.

I took over as the principal of MGM Medical College Hospital on August 5 this year and the next month I was given the charge as the superintendent of the hospital.

As I was new to the medical college hospital, I depended on my colleagues. The head of the department of anaesthesia R.Y. Chowdhary, looks after the operation theatres and according to his statement all operation theatres are regularly fumigated.

Since I have no documents to prove Chowdhary’s claims, I have to believe my colleague. It may be true that my predecessors have not followed all the procedures laid down in the book, while fumigating the OTs, but that did not produce any negative effects on those undergoing operations.

Otherwise, people would have cried foul. When one says about post-operation complications from a non-fumigated OT, then one has to substantiate the claim by putting forward cases and examples.

I am not saying the claims are wrong, but they should not create an atmosphere, which make people turn their back to the hospital at a time when it is getting a facelift.

Fumigation of OTs every year is as necessary as taking bath every day but this does not mean that a man will turn into a mass of germ if he does bathe for a couple of days.

Things are finally taking shape and I think fumigation will take place when the modification work is over.

Unfortunately, the modification work in some of the operation theatres (ENT) has been stopped due to non-payment of dues to Public Works Department (PWD) but work in the rest of the OTs is over. I am waiting for instructions from the district administration to resume the modification work and once it is over I will do the fumigation.