aking up to the real and present danger of hospital-based infections, the Telangana government has directed teaching hospitals to start implementing measures to control healthcare-associated infections.
Unlike corporate hospitals with NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare) accreditation, which go to great length to curb infections, government hospitals have fallen behind in implementing such good practices.
To address such concerns, authorities have directed the government hospitals to set up infection control committees to provide a forum for multidisciplinary inputs, which would be responsible for planning, implementation and resource allocation of all matters related to infection prevention and control.
The committees would develop infection control policies and environmental management practices to ensure adherence to standard infection control precautions, review and approve annual plan prepared by the infection control team, review epidemiological surveillance data and identify areas of intervention.
The other responsibilities of such a committee is to ensure capacity building for infection prevention, control and safety, prepare standard operating procedures for various medical departments and frequently review infectious risks associated with medical equipment.
In addition to having a special committee, each government hospital in Telangana would now have to constitute a Hospital Infection Control Team (HICT) to implement the infection control measures and provide solutions on infection control on 24 hours basis.
The team would also be responsible for maintenance of medical equipment, investigating outbreaks of infections, take up surveillance, advice staff on waste management, develop antibiotic policies and train hospital staff.
Authorities have also decided to have a dedicated Infection Control Officer (ICO), a microbiologist or epidemiologist, in-charge of infection control practices, provide trends for hospital acquired infections to patient care units, and investigate outbreaks of viral, bacterial or fungal ailments and training.
It has also been decided to have an Infection Control Nurse (ICN), a nurse with an academic education and practical training to act as a specialist advisor in all aspects relating to infection control. Going a step further, the health authorities here have also decided to have an exclusive biomedical waste management committee in hospitals that would be in charge of implementing good practises in management of hospital waste.
Each government hospital in Telangana will also have to constitute a Hospital Infection Control Team to implement infection control measures and provide related solutions
Each government hospital in Telangana will also have to constitute a Hospital Infection Control Team (HICT) to implement the infection control measures and provide solutions on infection control
