Command Hospital holds seminar on Hospital Acquired Infection

Chandigarh, July 10 (UNI) Command Hospital, Chandimandir today organised a seminar on Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) to discuss the role of various departments and individuals in the prevention and control of HAI.

While delivering the inaugural address at the seminar, Western Command Chief of Staff Lt Gen A N Aul stressed the importance of surveillance and prevention in the endeavour to control HAI.

Emphasising that control of infection was a collective responsibility of the doctors, nursing officers, healthcare workers, the paramedical staff and the patients as well, Gen Aul said the problem of HAI should be tackled in a coordinated manner and self-discipline was of paramount importance in this regard.

Efficient housekeeping and sanitation also went a long way in tackling the incidence of HAI, he added.

Medical Services Deputy Director (Western Command) Maj Gen Pruthwiraj Rao in his keynote address, discussed the epidemiology of the noscomial infections and its public health importance. Informing that as per the latest WHO report based on a survey conducted in 55 hospitals across the world, 8 to 11 per cent of the admitted patients contract HAI, Gen Rao underlined that the aim of the seminar should be to bring about awareness so that this percentage could be brought down.

In the seminar, during the two scientific sessions, the speakers deliberated upon role of hospital infection control committee and various departments in surveillance, prevention and control of these infections. On the occasion, a CD (Compact Disc) on HAI was also released by the General Officer.

Commandants of all the military hospitals of Western Command and senior medical and nursing officers attended the seminar.

UNI