Central Sterile Supply Department at Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana upgraded by New Swan MultiTech under CSR

Ludhiana, November 11, 2022: The CSSD at CMC Ludhiana is almost as old as our organization and was developed as the hospital had to ensure the sterility and cleanliness of all the equipment being used for the care of the patients. The CSSD was developed according to the norms of the time and had not been renovated since.

It was renovated recently with a generous contribution from Upkar Singh Ahuja from New Swain Industries. The renovation was started and was completed on 17th of February, 2021 and the has been done as per the latest NABH (National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Health Care Providers) guidelines thus ensuring that it meets all the standards required as per a national level board to ensure the safety of the patients.

Dr. Catherine Whitcomb, Executive Director, Ludhiana CMC Board USA along with Dr. William Bhatti, Director, CMC Ludhiana, and Mr. Upkar Singh Ahuja (New Swain Industries) along with Dr. Allen Joseph- Medical Superintendent, CMC Ludhiana visited the facility on Friday, 28th October 2022 to see the functioning of the CSSD and appreciated all the work that had been done in such an important area of the hospital. She also commended the local industrialist with the help of whom the project was made a success and who recognized the importance of maintaining disinfection and sterility of hospital equipment for use on patients.

The CSSD is complete with separate changing rooms for male and female staff members, a proper hand washing area, a receiving area, a washing area, cabins for cutting area, packing area (Small OT packing, labour room & main OT packing for drapes etc), main packing area where small set packing and big set packing is done. Equipment packing is also done here. There is 1 autoclave in the departments and an issuing area where sterile instruments are stored and issued to respective departments.

Prior to the renovation, there were wooden cupboards and tables which were difficult to clean and there were no cabins for separate areas. Also, the sinks were all cemented before renovation. Currently, all furniture and sinks are in steel and the division of cabins has been done with aluminium.

We are following all procedures to ensure the sterility of equipment and sets. Sticker gun stickers are now put on all sterilized sets which were not available earlier. Bovi-dick test was not available before renovation it is available now as per the requirement of NABH and is done once a week on Monday, biomedical indicator is also used once a week to assess the effectiveness of the disinfection process/ sterility of equipment every Thursday. Class 5 indicators are also used to assess each load for proper sterilization. This is placed in a register for each load and a record is maintained. A cutting machine is also available for cutting pads etc. We thank Upkar Singh Ahuja for his generous contribution to the project.