Senior Reporter
otto.carrington@cnc3.co.tt
Bags of linen and other items, many labelled as biohazardous, have been accumulating at the entrance of the laundry facility at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope for over a week.
The issue stems from a non-operational boiler that stopped laundry services, leaving piles of contaminated material both inside and outside the facility.
Staff have expressed deep concern due to the mix of dirty and clean linens, many of which are used in surgeries and medical procedures.
The backlog has led to the linens being transported to the Caura Hospital for cleaning, but workers claim the hospital’s facility is not equipped to handle the additional volume.
Workers from the Mt Hope laundry, who have been relocated to assist with the backlog, say they are frustrated that they have not been compensated for overtime.
Speaking to Guardian Media, a staff member who spoke anonymously, said the boiler was used to sterilise the linens and clothes. The worker said it seemed the management had abandoned them, as no one had visited the laundry since the boiler became non-functional.
Another staff member claimed management had largely ignored their concerns, adding that the non-functioning boiler was just one of many issues they were currently facing.
That worker said laundry came from various hospitals, including St James, Port-of-Spain, St Ann’s, Mt Hope, and the Tacarigua Health Facility, as well as other institutions and health centres.
In response to the allegations, North Central Regional Health Authority CEO Davlin Thomas confirmed that the boiler at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex had been out of service.
He explained that the boiler had since been repaired and was expected to be fully operational this week.
“It’s not different districts; it’s a single issue specific to the boiler at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex. We have other boilers and laundry facilities, so it hasn’t impacted our overall workload. We’ve simply transferred the work to other laundry facilities. However, the boiler itself is repaired. What we’re doing now is we have to certify it, so the certification process has already begun,” Thomas said.
Regarding the piles of linen outside the facility, he stated that such accumulation was a normal occurrence outside the laundry area.
He added, “No, clothes are being delivered daily, so the piles continue to build up. We also receive laundry from other areas and then we distribute them to the places where they need to be processed. We have two other laundry facilities that we use simultaneously to manage the workload.”
