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Corporate hospitals flout swine flu guidelines
Many corporate hospitals in the State are not following the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health for managing swine flu cases. Hence, there could be an increase in cross-infections, according to officials of the health department.
Hyderabad: Many corporate hospitals in the State are not following the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Health for managing swine flu cases. Hence, there could be an increase in cross-infections, according to officials of the health department.
According to sources, health authorities, during the field visits, noticed that there were no infection control committees formed by corporate hospitals. Only Gandhi Hospital and Niloufer hospitals have infection control committees.
Once a patient is admitted as suspected swine flu case, he is put on oxygen supplementation. It was found that the oxygen masks were not cleaned properly after use on patients, thus giving room for cross infections. In fact, hospitals are supposed to use disposable oxygen mask, but this also is not followed, according to the authorities.
As per the central guidelines, every hospital which is treating swine flu patients should set up an isolation ward. Yet, some of the private hospitals have been treating swine flu patients in general wards and sometimes along with normal patients. This could result in spread of the infection, particularly among high-risk groups like infants, young children, pregnant women and elderly above the age of 65 years.
Sources said that many private hospitals were admitting patients and keeping them under observation for about three days before sending the samples to the lab of the Institute of Preventive Medicine here.
This time lag worsens the patient’s condition. There have also been instances of private hospitals shifting swine flu patients to Gandhi Hospital once their condition deteriorates so that they can keep their hands clean. When contacted, health department officials said that, in view of the findings of the field visits, the department had decided to convene a meeting with hospitals on September 8 to ensure that they strictly follow the guidelines.
When this correspondent tried to contact some of the private hospitals, the authorities there refused to comment on the findings of the field staff of the health department.
However, authorities in some of the major corporate hospitals said that they do have an isolation ward and were following the norms.
