Garbage piled up and the toilets went uncleaned for a week at several hospitals in Selangor. This was due to long-time government contractor Radicare switching workers.

After receiving complaints from the public, Malaysiakini conducted a check at the Selayang Hospital and found rubbish bins overflowing with garbage while toilets were littered with wet tissues.

Hospital staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, apologised for the situation, saying that they have tried to keep their respective areas clean.

"That's all we can do since the cleaning staff have not come around," said a nurse.

In response to Malaysiakini’s queries a day later, Radicare confirmed that five hospitals were affected due to constraint in getting cleaners  after it switched contractors from Harta Maintenance Sdn Bhd to Alam Bersih Sdn Bhd.

“Due to escalating cost pressure, Radicare had issued an open tender in 2013 and Alam Bersih was awarded the contract for cleaning services for nine hospitals in Selangor,” Radicare’s corporate communications manager Nurul Huda Arifin said in an email.

After the problem surfaced, Harta Maintenance has been reinstated she said, but the company “faced difficulty to immediately bring in sufficient manpower to clean the hospitals”.

The issue was also raised last Friday by Dr Xavier Jayakumar, the state assemblyperson for Seri Andalas.

"It has been brought to my notice that in 2014, Radicare, which has been contracted to clean all hospitals, has cut manpower. From the usual 120 workers, it is now 20," Xavier said in a press statement.

He said that apart from Selayang, hospitals in Sungai Buloh, Kajang and Rawang were similarly affected.

According to Xavier, Radicare has contracts for major hospitals in Selangor and has been holding the contract to provide integrated non-clinical hospital management care to the Health Ministry since 1997. In total, these contracts are worth close to RM200 million a year.

Radicare’s Nurul Huda declined to reveal its government contract details. “Contractually, we are not allowed to disclose this information,” she said.

Staff at Selayang Hospital said that less than a dozen Radicare workers showed up for the first seven days of the year, compared to hundreds that regularly clean up the 960-bed hospital.

However, a Selayang Hospital public relations officer said the hospital operations have not been affected and insisted that normal service standards have been kept.

A check by Malaysiakini confirmed that Radicare workers handling biological waste and laundry were working as usual.

The public relations officer pointed out that building maintenance was a Health Ministry issue.

Contacted later, Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam said he had promptly intervened to get things back on track.

"I am told that it was consequent to Radicare's appointment of a new contractor. I have directed them to rectify it. They have promised to rectify it by today," Subramaniam said.

Meanwhile, Xavier pointed out that a week is “a big time in hospital care.”

"If hospitals are not kept clean because companies are cutting down on manpower, it's high time to review the contract given to these companies.

"What is the person in charge in the Health Ministry doing? Don't they monitor these things or wait to do something only when complaints come about?" Xavier asked.

"Radicare should at least be given some kind of warning letter and notice, so that next time this happens again, it can be immediately terminated," he added.

According to its website, Radicare provides five Hospital Support Services (HSS) to public hospitals in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Selangor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, and other healthcare institutions in Malaysia. Locally, they have serviced 47 public hospitals and 400 private healthcare facilities.