Dr Atul Prakash, Director, Central Government of Health Services (CGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India visited Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS), Sevagram on 15th April 2019. Dr Prakash came to Sevagram to assess the role played by the hospital to celebrate Swachhata Pakhwada, the cleanliness fortnight.
Taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Clean India Mission a step forward and to achieve total sanitation by October 2, 2019, as a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary, the Centre has asked all ministries to implement a fortnight-long action plan every year to highlight their contribution to the initiative. The first fortnight of April has been assigned to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare monitors closely how the fortnight is celebrated, using online monitoring system of Swachhata Samiksha where action plans, images, and videos related to Swachhata activities are uploaded and shared.
At the behest of the Government of India, medical institutes, countrywide, are celebrating a fortnight long Swachhata Pakhwada—a clean India mission—in the hospitals. Dr Prakash came to Sevagram to assess how MGIMS was using this campaign to keep its premises clean.
Dr Prakash spent a day at Kasturba hospital Sevagram. Dr BS Garg, Secretary Kasturba Health Society, explained to him the rich history and the heritage of the hospital and narrated the list of activities conducted during the Swachhata pakhwada. Dr SP Kalantri, Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital explained the hospital’s unique features like low cost drug initiative and hospital information system to him. Accompanied by Dr Garg and Dean Dr NM Gangane, Dr C Maliye (Professor of ommunity Medicine), Dr R Pandey (Associate Professor of Surgery), Mr G Deo (Hospital Superintendent), Mrs N Shetye (Matron) and Mrs Shaily (Public Relations officer), Dr Kalantri gave him a guided tour of the hospital. He visited the outpatient departments, inpatient wards, Operation Theatres, Labs, Accident and Emergency department, and the support services such as Hospital Information System, Pharmacy, Laundry, Central Sterilization Department, and Dietary services. He keenly observed how the hospital was collecting, segregating and disposed the biomedical waste. He also assessed the infection control measures taken by the hospital to minimize infections. He expressed his profound satisfaction over the hygiene and housekeeping in and around the hospital.
During the Swachhata fortnight, the hospital had designed massive cleaning drives in all the hospital wards and hospital premises. Doctors, nurses and paramedics performed role-plays, sketched beautiful posters and took off rallies on the roads to explain to the patients and visitors why cleanliness is next to Godliness. They seemed to have succeeded in their mission.