BJP protests over pink bed sheets in Telangana hospitals

It was in March that the Union Health Ministry directed hospitals to change the colour of the bed sheets on a daily basis in a bid to ensure that bed sheets do get changed.

White on Mondays, pink on Tuesdays, green on Wednesdays, yellow on Thursdays, violet, lavender or purple on Fridays, blue on Saturdays and peach or light grey on Sundays was prescribed.

The following report had quoted the order as saying, "The ministry has decided to implement use of different colour bed sheets on all the seven days of the week in hospitals/institutes to ensure daily change of bed sheets," reads the March 29 order issued by the ministry to hospitals.

Soon thereafter reports came in from Uttar Pradesh that hospitals were shifting to saffron bed sheets following the victory of the BJP in the state. A report in the Times of India quoted authorities of a hospital in Meerut tweaking the advisory and opting to synchronise the colours of the bed sheets associated with various Hindu gods, god men and deities.

The report said, “Hospital authorities have come up with a ‘seven-colour scheme’ that will see bed sheets on each day of the week given the colour associated with various Hindu gods. This is being done in the name of Operation Indradhanush under the Swachch Bharat campaign that advises all hospitals to have bed sheets in different colours based on the VIBGYOR (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red) pattern so that these are changed every day. Just that hospital authorities in Meerut have tweaked the direction to bring Hindu gods in.” It can be read here.

In Telangana, the Bharatiya Janata Party , however, is upset with the TRS Government opting for pink bed sheets in hospitals, pink being the party colour of the ruling party. A report in The Deccan Chronicle quoted BJP leader G Kishan Reddy saying, “ Let there be pink TRS office, pink bedroom for KCR or let him bathe in pink water. But hospitals have for 70 years used green and white bedsheets and they have been turned pink now. The government is misusing funds provided by the Centre.”

The Union government’s fiat may not be binding on state governments, especially the ones not ruled by the BJP. Several of these states have been complaining of growing interference by the Centre in domains traditionally controlled by state governments. But as the experience of Telangana shows, the direction can be twisted to suit partisan, political considerations also.