PANAJI
Cleaning and other housekeeping services at the State's premier health institution, the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) at Bambolim, costs the exchequer more than two lakh rupees daily.
According to Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, these services at the GMC have cost a whopping Rs 28.43 crore over the last three and half years.
Broken down, this amounts to about Rs 2.3 lakh spent every day for cleaning and maintenance work at the sprawling hospital complex in Bambolim and which adds up to Rs 71.07 lakh monthly.
The GMC is a facility which caters not just to Goans but also attracts a significant number of patients from the bordering regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka as well.
The cleaning and housekeeping work at the GMC hospital is outsourced to M/s Ecoclean Systems and Solutions under a formal agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, the company handles the daily cleaning and housekeeping work, including cleaning, sweeping, mopping, wet mopping and dusting all areas in shifts including cleaning of WCs, urinals, toilets, wash basins and sinks.
All minor repairs like taps, broken sinks and such other work has been entrusted to the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), Rane informed.
Rane also said, that as for mechanisms to ensure quality and hygiene checks, on these services, Ecoclean Systems & Solutions maintains a register of checklist such as sweeping, mopping dusting, toilet, cleaning of surrounding areas cleaning of windows, doors, grills, window glasses, cleaning of fans and cupboards which is inspected and signed by the section in-charge on a daily basis.
Supervisors of the same company also inspect the toilets on a day-to-day basis to ensure quality services and standards, he added.
The same company also bagged a similar contract for the nearby Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) under a e-tendering process back in 2017.
The contract was for three years, with a provision for automatic renewal for another three years depending on satisfactory services and at a 5 per cent hike in fees, Rane added.
