“One who maintains cleanliness keeps away diseases.” – Sam Veda
Healthcare institutions are pivotal to the survival of society. They are the institutions that are
built to facilitate health and healing. If, however, these institutions are not properly cared for
and maintained, they can also become the places that pose the greatest threat to society. This
poses imminent health threats via people who are already vulnerable, often with weakened
immune systems due to current illnesses, being exposed to germs.
Therefore, it is of vital importance that healthcare institutions are well cleaned and maintained.
“I have often heard healthcare facility managers proclaiming that they don’t have to worry
about this problem because they use the strongest cleaning products they can find on the
market. The issue with this is that often those ‘strong’ cleaning products pose an even greater
threat to patients due to their chemical compounds,” explains John J Coetzee of Green Worx
Cleaning Solutions.
Coetzee recommends that organic products be used instead because those products, when the
correct ones are used, work just as effectively in cleaning and sanitising without further
compromising human health and/or the environment. These natural, eco-friendly processes
clean in a way that is beneficial to the environment, often with longer lasting effects than
harsher chemically based products.
The benefit of some of these organic products is also that they require less water for use. This
aids in situations where healthcare facilities may not have access to large amounts of water.
According to the WHO/UNICEF JMP Global Baseline Report on WASH in Health Care Facilities,
one of every four healthcare facilities does not have access to basic water services. This
indicates that over 2 billion people would be impacted. Furthermore, one out of every five
healthcare facilities does not have any sanitation services at all.
Derived from the latter, it is clear to see that an affordable, effective clean that requires
minimal water and other resources is invaluable for the healthcare industry at large. This is
particularly important – but not limited to – facilities that are struggling with resource
management and effective cleaning and sanitation of the facilities. The right organic products
can help in alleviating these struggles on all accounts; less water is needed for an effective long
lasting clean and due to the ingredients of these products being natural, when sourced from
the right places, these products should also be cost effective.
“Organic products should be affordable,” continues Coetzee. “They should be affordable to
manage, in terms of resources needed to use them and the longevity of the product, and they
should also be affordable to purchase – not to mention easily available as well. This is especially
critical when talking about the healthcare facilities, where demand is high, and necessity is not
only required but absolutely vital for the treatment and recovery of patients,” concludes
Coetzee.