From now on, doctors attached with hospitals and medical colleges across the country will have to wear white coats made of khadi.
Besides doctors’ coats, all other essential items starting from bed-sheets, pillow covers, aprons, curtains and patients’ gowns used for medical purposes should also be of khadi products instead of cotton.
Usually, doctors use white coats made of cotton.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) in its latest advisory, issued on 1 June, has advised managements of all hospitals, medical colleges and other health institutes in the country to use khadi products as much as possible to promote rural economy.
The commission has also recommended use of soaps, hand-wash, phenyl etc manufactured by medium and small enterprises, under the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC).
According to the NMC advisory, “KVIC also aims the usage of Khadi products, which are especially designed and manufactured for medical professionals, such as bed-sheets, pillow covers, apron, curtains, patient’s gown, soaps, hand-wash, phenyl etc. It has now significantly been proven that products made of khadi are not only beneficial for health but also eco-friendly. As the doctors are mandatorily required to wear the white coat during duty hours, so are advised to use white coat made of khadi.”
“All doctors and college/hospital managements are advised to encourage/ include the usage of khadi products at their institutes, hospitals, nursing homes etc and help in providing employment and building up a self-reliant and strong rural economy,” the advisory stated.
“I have no idea about the NMC advisory so far but we have no problem implementing it in our state-run healthcare establishments if our government directs us in this regard,” said Siddhartha Niogy, acting director of health services (DHS).
“Usually, our hospitals and medical colleges use cotton items like bed-sheets, aprons, gowns etc in our state. We procure these items from Tantuja, a leading handloom product manufacturing brand under the West Bengal government,” Dr Niogy added.