Housekeepers at a British hospital have been asked to reuse bed sheets and pillowcases when possible to help cut down on the laundry bill.

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Despite the fact that the Good Hope Hospital has endured 36 cases involving the methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus bacterium, the London Daily Mail reported the facility is attempting to save money by limiting its sanitation efforts at the National Health Service hospital.

With all 36 cases of the infection occurring between April 2006 and this January, the head of a government unit trying to prevent MRSA outbreaks criticized the hospital's move.

"It is utterly disgraceful and tantamount to murder because hygiene like changing sheets is essential to protect patients," MRSA support chairman Tony Field said. "It proves beyond all doubt that cost-cutting is directly contributing to hospital acquired infections."

A spokesman for the hospital told the newspaper that the posters asking for such cost-cutting efforts to occur at the NHS facility had previously been scheduled for removal.