Laundry operator in north China caught washing blood-stained hospital sheets with hotel linen
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 April, 2016, 3:40pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 April, 2016, 3:40pm
Celine Ge
[email protected]
A laundry service in north China has been closed after a news exposé showed it washing blood-stained hospital sheets with hotel linen in the latest sanitation scare to hit the mainland, state media has reported.
The company was operating out on the outskirts of Xinxiang, a large city in Henan province, according to China News Service. Clients included a number of hotels in the area as well as several major health care providers, according to the local news programme that aired over the weekend.
Footage showed laundry workers bundling the dirty hospital sheets together with bedsheets, pillow cases, towels and staff uniforms that carried the names of the hotels. The report identified the operator as Sanfeng, which later denied accusations of sanitation violations.
“It was normal for the linen to be stained with blood. I even saw a small piece of intestine wrapped up in cloth, but still we put them all into the washing machine,” a staff member was quoted as saying.
When a reporter with the same news programme showed up again with local hygiene watchdogs, the once messy centre was clean, with the business owner denying allegations of misconduct.
The Xinxiang city government ordered seven departments to investigate and it shut down the operator.
“It violated the regulations by washing linen from hospitals together with that of hotels,” a statement issued by the city government said. “It has also failed to provide documents on its antibacterial procedures.”
Local hotel names could be seen on some of the items handled by the company. Photo: SCMP Pictures
The mainland is making headway in improving hygiene and sanitation standards, but offending companies and government agencies are regularly exposed.
The poor sanitation in many public toilets, especially at busy tourist attractions, are a nuisance for locals and overseas visitors.
Many toilets in less developed areas of the mainland do not flush and waste can be left for months, if not years.
In 2011, small restaurants in several mainland cities were found to be putting diners’ health at risk by giving them toilet paper to wipe their mouths instead of paper napkins. A carcinogenic fluorescent whitener was added to the toilet paper, which was made from recycled paper.
