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CHENNAI: Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital here needn’t look far for enduring emblems of good health. A 77-year-old all-brass machine, imported from Britain just months after India gained Independence is still washing the dirty linen at Tamil Nadu’s largest public hospital, foaming, frothing and whirring where many of its state-of-art successors have kicked the bucket.
Though the machine looks a mess, with paint peeling, workers swear by it, saying it still works better than the modern ones, and want three more British-made machines lying defunct at the hospital repaired. The hospital was established in 1664 by British East India Company. But it doesn’t have a record of who ordered the machine from J W Lightburn & Sons, Nottingham.
Quick, user-friendly & economic: Tamil Nadu hospital staff on Raj-era washing machine
Chennai hospital authorities don’t have a record of who ordered the machine from J W Lightburn & Sons, Nottingham, but say the then administrators might have done so because three other machines of pre-Independence vintage, made by another British company, Lister Bros Ltd, had done a good job of washing the hospital’s bedspreads, surgical scrubs and aprons.
These machines are lying defunct and the hospital’s dean Dr E Theranirajan has urged engineering colleges to take up their repair as a special project.
“Mechanics tell us they can’t find spare parts. If there is a chance to repair them, we will jump at that opportunity,” he said.
The washing machine still functioning is shaped like a roller and the laundry workers have to push a lever and turn a wheel to open and shut it. But the workers say it’s got four compartments to hold 150 bedsheets, which can be easily removed after they are washed. The modern laundry machines have just one chamber that holds 200 bedsheets, but it’s backbreaking work to pull them out after they are washed, they say.
Every day, at the break of dawn, the hospital’s laundry room echoes with voices of workers hustling to wash the sheets used for the hospital’s 3,800 beds. If machine operator Gunasekaran is on duty, he rushes to the British-made machine. “These machines are quick, user friendly and cost-effective,” he said.
“Clothes soak in water heated to 80 degrees C inside the machine. Every cycle takes 30 minutes of rigorous washing. The sheets are then dropped into a drum-like compartment that squeezes out the excess water. Fifteen minutes later, these clothes are taken out to dry in the sun,” said Gunasekaran.
After the other three British-made machines stopped working, the hospital purchased three new laundry machines through the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation four years ago. Two of them have already conked out. “The new machines are sleeker and cheaper. But old ones have proved to be more effective,” said Mala, a grade-II nurse who is in-charge of the laundry room.
“The new machines hold up to 200 sheets at a time, but they don’t have separate compartments. So all clothes are washed in one roller. Workers find it tough to pull them out. Workers using new machines often complain of backache,” she said. Hospital administration hopes some engineer somewhere will help them out by repairing the old machines.
Though the machine looks a mess, with paint peeling, workers swear by it, saying it still works better than the modern ones, and want three more British-made machines lying defunct at the hospital repaired. The hospital was established in 1664 by British East India Company. But it doesn’t have a record of who ordered the machine from J W Lightburn & Sons, Nottingham.
Quick, user-friendly & economic: Tamil Nadu hospital staff on Raj-era washing machine
Chennai hospital authorities don’t have a record of who ordered the machine from J W Lightburn & Sons, Nottingham, but say the then administrators might have done so because three other machines of pre-Independence vintage, made by another British company, Lister Bros Ltd, had done a good job of washing the hospital’s bedspreads, surgical scrubs and aprons.
These machines are lying defunct and the hospital’s dean Dr E Theranirajan has urged engineering colleges to take up their repair as a special project.
“Mechanics tell us they can’t find spare parts. If there is a chance to repair them, we will jump at that opportunity,” he said.
The washing machine still functioning is shaped like a roller and the laundry workers have to push a lever and turn a wheel to open and shut it. But the workers say it’s got four compartments to hold 150 bedsheets, which can be easily removed after they are washed. The modern laundry machines have just one chamber that holds 200 bedsheets, but it’s backbreaking work to pull them out after they are washed, they say.
Every day, at the break of dawn, the hospital’s laundry room echoes with voices of workers hustling to wash the sheets used for the hospital’s 3,800 beds. If machine operator Gunasekaran is on duty, he rushes to the British-made machine. “These machines are quick, user friendly and cost-effective,” he said.
“Clothes soak in water heated to 80 degrees C inside the machine. Every cycle takes 30 minutes of rigorous washing. The sheets are then dropped into a drum-like compartment that squeezes out the excess water. Fifteen minutes later, these clothes are taken out to dry in the sun,” said Gunasekaran.
After the other three British-made machines stopped working, the hospital purchased three new laundry machines through the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation four years ago. Two of them have already conked out. “The new machines are sleeker and cheaper. But old ones have proved to be more effective,” said Mala, a grade-II nurse who is in-charge of the laundry room.
“The new machines hold up to 200 sheets at a time, but they don’t have separate compartments. So all clothes are washed in one roller. Workers find it tough to pull them out. Workers using new machines often complain of backache,” she said. Hospital administration hopes some engineer somewhere will help them out by repairing the old machines.
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