October 2013
| Business World Magazine | 165
and sterile packs. Understandably, dur-
ing any invasive medical procedure, all
wraps, towels, sponges, gowns and drapes
must be sterile and totally free of bacteria
to prevent the transfer of potential infec-
tion. Many hospital O.R.’s use an assort-
ment of single-use, paper products which
are discarded and relegated to medical
waste following the procedure. Those
paper products range in costs, but for ex-
ample, a typical gown may cost $2.00 per
use whereas its equivalent in fabric may
only cost fifty cents. COMTEX enables
its customer to achieve the cost effective-
ness and convenience imparted by textiles
through offering sterilization services.
In this process, textiles are sorted,
washed, dried and further separated by
classification. More expensive products
may be barcoded to help identify the
sending facility and to track the number
of processes of each garment. Textiles are
inspected for holes (and patched when
necessary) and then folded and stacked
in preparation for pack making. Packs are
assembled to include the exact product
required for each procedure (i.e. single
gown packs, major packs, minor packs).
