Laboratory in Lahore.
Ensuring standard hygienic conditions at ice and soda water factories operating across district is a must to avoid spread of water-borne infections, said a top official serving at the allied hospitals.
Pleading anonymity, he added that it is need of the time to monitor production of ice and soda water factories on regular basis and the health department should collect samples from them and send them to laboratory for quality assurance.
One can easily witness that majority of soda water factories and local cold drink manufacturers use huge sized coverless containers to store locally prepared sweetener that are covered with thousands of flies. Also majority of ice and soda water factories give least attention to keep working areas clean and the condition in which they work is highly unhygienic.
District Officer Health 2 is responsible for ensuring quality of water and food products and he would monitor collecting of water samples from ice and soda water factories, said District Health Officer Dr. Rafiq Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.
‘The News’ repeatedly tried to contact DOH 2 on Saturday and sent a message on his personal cell phone to know what measures the health department is taking to ensure quality of products of ice and soda water factories but he did not make himself available for comments till filing of this report.
Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Khalid Randhawa when contacted by ‘The News’ on Sunday said the district health department would launch a comprehensive campaign to ensure quality of products of ice and soda water factories in the district from tomorrow (Tuesday).
He added the health department has not started collecting water samples from factories as yet. To ensure transparency, I have worked out a comprehensive plan for checking of water samples after collection from ice and soda water factories, he said.
He explained that water samples would be collected in sterilized bottles and would be sent to laboratory for checking with labels known to only two senior officials of the health department to ensure transparency. Random labels would be allotted to each sample that would be known only to me and another senior official at the health department so that no one can use illegitimate means to get any sample passed, said Dr. Randhawa.