The Hindu Business Line : `Hospitals told to set up infection control panels'

Hospitals in India, both in the State healthcare system and the private sector, should perforce set up "Infection Control Committees" at the highest level (just below the hospital director) both to effectively manage viral and other diseases and also prevent hospital induced infections, Dr Gert Hoeffken, specialist in Internal Medicine, attached to University Hospital Dresden, Germany, said.

Talking to Business Line at the sidelines of a symposium here on "De-escalation Strategy with Antibiotics in Critical Care Infections & the menace of antibiotice resistance in India," organised by Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd, he said that based on the respective requirements of hospitals, detailed guidelines should be formulated and published for both the medical fraternity and the patients, especially at ICUs.

Creating Awareness

Describing Kolkata as a `hotspot', he cited hygiene as a foremost requirement for prevention of infections, especially bacterial, at both hospitals and community medical centres. At the very outset, he felt, there was an urgent need for education and training in such facilities, both among medical practitioners as well as nurses and other related personnel, on the use of antibiotics in critical care infections.

He said there was also a need to create awareness among medical personnel to the issue of antibiotic resistance to antibiotics in India and he also suggested the creation of micro labs in hospitals to generate data on a daily basis to effectively carry out disease management.

Critical Care

He said a decrease in consumption of antibiotics directly led to cut in costs, and also decrease in mortality rates, as proved by established research. Inversely, he pointed out, that de-escalation also reduced the pressure on the resistant pathogens, which also effectively reduces the likelihood of secondary infections in ICU patients.

Pointing out that research was going on at certain hot spots in India, including well known institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Dr Hoeffken said hospitals should get these guidelines as a template to make critical care more meaningful. He said increasing antibiotic resistance has also been associated with higher overall healthcare costs owing to prolonged hospitalisation as a result of failure of antibiotic treatment.

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