The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Meet on threat posed by hospital-acquired infections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Meet on threat posed by hospital-acquired infections

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: A one-day seminar on hospital infections to be held here on August 22 will discuss the need for a health care-associated infection control mechanism and antibiotic policy.

Specialists in microbiology and infectious diseases from medical institutions in India and abroad are scheduled to participate in the seminar which seeks to create awareness among all sections of the medical profession about the threat posed by hospital-acquired infections as well as those acquired from nursing homes, primary care and even the patient’s home.

According to the approach paper of the seminar, hospitalised patients are generally more vulnerable to infection than any other healthy individual since the environment is conducive to the growth and transmission of resistant bacteria. High standards of hospital cleanliness is important in controlling the spread of such organisms.

The authors of the paper mooted the formation of a hospital infection control committee with the head of the institution as chairperson.

The committee should formulate and monitor disinfection and sterilisation practices in the hospital. There should be a dedicated infection control team headed by an infection control officer. The team should be responsible for the hospital’s disinfection programme.

There should be a system of monitor outbreaks by networking of data collected by hospital laboratories and feed back from doctors inspecting patients in the wards. Hospitals should also formulate an ‘anti-biotic policy.’

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala

News Update

Stories in this Section