Centres to curb hospital infection
HCM CITY (VNS)— Three centres that provide guidance and training on hospital infection control in the northern, southern and central region will be built by 2015, the HCM City Infection Control Society has said.
At a workshop held on Thursday in HCM City, Le Thi Anh Thu, the society's chairwoman, spoke about the national action plan on strengthening the activities of infection control in health facilities.
The three centres chosen to provide training this year will be located within the Cho Ray, Bach Mai and Central Hue hospitals.
Thu said that at least 70 per cent of health staff would be trained by 2015.
The Ministry of Health has asked medical universities and nursing schools to include infection-control courses in their curricula.
The Pham Ngoc Thach Medical University is expected to have an additional faculty with instructors specialising in infection control. The training has been launched to address the shortage of infection-control specialists at hospitals.
According to Huynh Thi Phuong of HCM City's Health Department, at least 18.5 per cent of 81 surveyed hospitals have no infection-control specialists on staff.
This year the aim will be to have a team of doctors and nurses specialising in infection control in every ward at all hospitals that operate under the ministry.
By 2015, all general hospitals at the provincial and city level would have one such team. In addition, a database on infection-control at hospitals would be created by 2015.
The ministry has also asked hospitals throughout the country to issue a list of necessary equipment needed for infection control.
Guidelines on disinfection and sterilisation must be obeyed by all hospitals, the ministry said.
In 1999, the infection rate at hospitals nationwide was 11.5 per cent. It fell to 5.7 per cent in 2007.
All health facilities nationwide have received guidelines on infection control, but only 64 per cent of the 81 surveyed hospitals in HCM City have carried out infection-control measures, Phuong said.
"However, nearly 94 per cent of them have set up either a committee or ward that specialises in infection control," she said.
Of them, more than 49 per cent have used methods to sterilise and disinfect their medical equipment, and 95 per cent have taken steps to classify, collect and treat medical waste. — VNS