National guidelines for sanitation services: Addressing the unmet need of standardizing cleaning practices in tertiary care public health facilities of a developing country

Vijaydeep Siddharth; Angel Rajan Singh; D K Sharma; Sidhartha Satpathy; Vipin Kumar Kaushal; Amit Lathwal; Anil Sain; Shweta Misra; Mohammad Kausar; Ruchi Garg

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1614_20

National guidelines for sanitation services: Addressing the unmet need of standardizing cleaning practices in tertiary care public health facilities of a developing country

J Family Med Prim Care. 2021 Sep;10(9):3475-3480. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1614_20. Epub 2021 Sep 30.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
² Medical Superintendent, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
³ Department of Hospital Administration, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India.
⁴ Central Government Health Scheme, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, New Delhi, India.
⁵ Institute of Hotel Management - Pusa, New Delhi, India.
⁶ Department of Hospital Administration, AIIMS Bilaspur, HP, India.
⁷ Department of Hospital Administration, Mahatma Gandhi University of Medical Science and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Abstract

Background: Cleanliness is one of the main reasons for poor satisfaction among the patients and their attendants visiting healthcare facilities.

Objective: To elevate and transform the sanitation in public sector facilities, a committee was constituted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to study the existing system of Housekeeping in Central Government Hospitals and draft the Guidelines for house-keeping services, since no such literature is available in context of the healthcare facilities in India.

Methods: The committee ascertained the housekeeping services in three tertiary care hospitals of Central Government and simultaneously conducted the literature review of the best practices in hospital sanitation and housekeeping.

Results: Formulated national guidelines focus on various aspects of sanitation services in health facilities, i.e., hospital infrastructure; organization of sanitation services; human resource requirements; qualification, experience and training needs of sanitation staff; roles and responsibilities of different personnel; risk categorization of hospital areas; mechanized cleaning; cleaning agents; cleaning standards and standard operating procedures; effective supervision and monitoring; procurement of these services, etc.

Conclusion: Formulated guidelines can be adopted by developing countries aiming for standardizing cleaning practices in public health facilities.

Keywords: Cleaning; National Guideline; housekeeping services; outsourcing; public health; sanitation.