Chennai: Govt hospitals are flouting a two-year-old housekeeping protocol involving colour-coded linens aimed at maintaining hygiene. The deviation is due to many factors, exposing poor administration and safety issues in sterile and busy units of medical colleges and hospitals. This is despite fresh state funding of up to 5 lakh for each of these institutions in 2025.Poor enforcement leads to risk of infection, as unchanged or inadequately washed sheets harbour bacteria. Studies show reusing fabrics can increase surgical site infections in recovery wards by 20-30%.
Nurses at Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital, which handles up to 3,500 inpatients every day, told TOI that colours, particularly maroon, blur after repeated laundering, leading to mix-ups. “Pink is for Mondays, maroon is for Wednesdays. But after repeated washing, both look the same,” said a nurse on Jan 21 at a female general medicine ward in Tower 1.Although the health dept has released a common schedule, implementation swings wildly. Tamil Nadu Govt Multi-super Speciality Hospital in Omandurar Estate uses leaf green on Wednesdays, but staff say shortages force the use of yellow or old linen. “We didn’t receive the linen sent for washing last week. So, we used Thursday’s colour (yellow) on Wednesday. Sometimes, when there is a delay in laundry services, we end up using old linen. This happens at least once a week,” said a sanitation staff member. RGGGH dean Dr K Shantharam said the hospital is planning an in-house dyeing unit to resolve confusion over fading colours. The TN medical services corporation said most hospitals did not place orders for new linens despite the budget allocation. “We suspect others may be sourcing linen directly from vendors,” said TNMSC GM (equipment) Swarnam Amudha.
