The hospital makes purchases of approved items - suture materials, sterile plastic drapes, and many others. Though the quality is initially approved when the tender document is processed, the periodic supplies need to be approved before the supply is accepted.
I received a packet of 50 sterile drapes for approval. They were going to buy 25000 such, which comes to 125000 drapes. The label on the packet was OK. It stated the contents were sterile. When I opened the packet to check the contents, I found that all of the 50 drapes were packed together, without a plastic cover for each drape. While I was doing this, a professor came to see me about some other work.
"Please look at this pack of drapes and tell me if they can be approved" I said.
She looked at the pack and said "the pack is open, the contents will not be sterile now."
The pack was closed when I got it, and its contents were sterile. I have just opened it to check its contents. Would you approve it if the pack was closed?"
"Yes" she said after reading the label for details like expiry date, size etc.
"No. We cannot approve it" I said. "All drapes are packed in a single plastic bag. That means one has to use all 50 drapes when one packet is opened, or throw away the remaining drapes after the intended use is over. That is not economical. rather, it is wasteful."
"This is ridiculous" she said.
"Yes. Or perhaps it is a trick. They want to increase the order, by using the consumption somehow."
"But what if people do not realize this and keep using the contents till the pack becomes empty?"
"That will be the tragedy of patients coming to this hospital" I said. "That is the purpose of sending the items to us for approval."
I had prepared the professor for stepping into the department head's position when the time came, at least for management of stores.
