Concerned over unhealthy practices followed by health care givers that can be potential threats to the patients and the community, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) has released a manual, ‘IAP Guidelines on Safe Injection Practices'.
Drafted in association with BD, a global medical technology company, the guidelines would help to standardize safe injection practices and prevention of infection in healthcare settings.
A 2005 study to assess injection practices showed that nationwide, 62 per cent of all injections were unsafe due to improper sterilization, reuse or faulty administration, making them a leading cause of healthcare or hospital-associated infections (HAIs). The HAIs are infections that a patient acquires while undergoing treatment from a healthcare facility for a different medical problem. In the last 20 years, emerging diseases like HIV, Hepatitis have intensified severity of risks from unsafe injections and unsafe waste disposal. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally about 1.3 m people die of infections caused by reuse of syringes per year, of which estimated 300,000 are in India. The IAP Guidelines provide an analysis of the problem of unsafe injections and provide technical specifications on safe injection techniques. A safe injection environment (SIE) is defined by a set of conditions in which required medication is delivered in all settings without potential harm to the patient, to the service provider, or to the community. The creation of SIE calls for integration over the spectrum of patient care and also throughout the lifecycle of the devices used from source materials and manufacturing through use and disposal.
“We are committed to improving the health and well being of all people who receive injections,” said Rohit C. Agrawal, National IAP President.
