A dysfunctional machine inside the laundry plant at SCB and (right) a worker shows a bed sheet eaten by rats. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, July 1: The laundry plant of SCB Medical College and Hospital is facing an invasion of rats. The army of rodents so far has destroyed nearly 5,000 bed sheets that are supplied to various departments of the premier state-run hospital in the last one and half years.

Ironically, no concrete measure has been taken so far to deal with the rodent menace inside the laundry plant being operated and maintained by Mediaid Marketing Services, Bhubaneswar from 2010.

The agency supplies nearly 2,150 bed sheets to various departments of the hospital daily . All the used linen are washed, dried and ironed at the laundry plant which has five separate machines for the purpose. “The rats have destroyed bulk of our bed sheet stock and we are now contemplating to install traps at various places at the laundry plant,” said in-charge Braja Mohan Panigrahy.

Officials of the Mediad Marketing Services said that they had started the laundry plant with an opening stock of nearly 10,500 bed sheets. Later, a few more bed sheets were purchased and the stock increased to 12,699.

However, the rats have damaged 4,370 bed sheets, while another 4,730 sheets were damaged in regular use. Similarly, the agency now has a stock of nearly 4,600 bed sheets and there is a requirement of another 3,000 bed sheets to cater to the requirements of individual ward.

The agency also incurs a loss as around 50 bed sheets are stolen from different departments every month. The agency is paid around Rs 3.70 lakh per month towards the laundry service by the SCB.

According to the employees, two dysfunctional washing machines placed inside the laundry plant are the breeding place of the rats that are usually attracted towards the smell of the blood stains on the bed sheets.

Dirty drain and rain water enters the laundry plant during heavy rain which also creates problems for the employees to carry out their work inside the unit. This also affects the machines and other stock of bed sheets kept at the laundry plant.

“We had requested the hospital authorities to remove the outdated machines from the plant, but no step has been taken in this regard so far. The machines are also eating up a portion of the entire space and that is also creating problems for us to work,” said Mediaid Marketing Services technical director Bipin Sarangi.

Sarangi added that the hospital authorities were not reimbursing money for the bed sheets either damaged by rats or stolen from various wards.

On the other hand, the SCB authorities could not be contacted on the issue.