National guidelines for sanitation services: Addressing the unmet need of standardizing cleaning practices in tertiary care public health facilities of a developing country.

Background: Cleanliness is one of the main reasons for poor satisfaction among the patients and their attendants visiting healthcare facilities.

Objective: To elevate and transform the sanitation in public sector facilities, a committee was constituted by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India to study the existing system of Housekeeping in Central Government Hospitals and draft the Guidelines for house-keeping services, since no such literature is available in context of the healthcare facilities in India.

Methods: The committee ascertained the housekeeping services in three tertiary care hospitals of Central Government and simultaneously conducted the literature review of the best practices in hospital sanitation and housekeeping.