Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite from Dr Jack Bloom MPL here.
The Masakhane provincial laundry is supposed to clean the linen at 14 hospitals and 54 clinics in the Tshwane area, but only 1 of its 6 tunnel washers is working.
This was revealed yesterday in an oversight visit by the Gauteng Legislature’s Health Committee to this laundry located in Rosslyn, north of Pretoria.
A tunnel washer is a large, industrial-scale washing machine that is essential for the high-volume cleaning of hospital laundry.
Other broken machinery includes the following:
• 4 out of 9 roller ironers
• 2 out of 4 stand-alone dryers
• 1 out of 2 small industrial washing machines
• 5 out of 6 rotary presses
• Both of the 2 finishing tunnels
Furthermore, there are 31 vacant posts, forcing the staff to do excessive overtime.
Poor management is also indicated by the lack of a linen management plan, nor is there a maintenance plan for the machines. These plans are only being drawn up now.
Patients are the victims of this inefficiency which causes frequent clean laundry shortages that increases the risk of infection.
Facilities affected include the Steve Biko, Kalafong, George Mukhari, Pretoria West, Tshwane District, Mamelodi, Weskoppies, Odi, Jubilee and Bronkhorstspruit hospitals.
I am not convinced that the department’s recapitalisation programme will solve the deep-rooted problems at the Masakhane laundry.
A DA-run administration would review the five provincial laundries to ensure optimal cost-efficiency and output, working with the private sector to ensure clean laundry is never a problem for our public hospitals.