Date:21/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/21/stories/2007092154590400.htm

New Delhi

“OT infection rate high at AIIMS”

Staff Reporter

Institute’s Operation Theatre Users’ Group expresses its concern

“High infection rate is because of excessive number of people and wrong practices in OT”
The group has listed several corrective steps to improve the situation, including more discipline

NEW DELHI: A high infection rate at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences’ operation theatres and a general decline in OT discipline are among the main concerns listed by the Institute’s Operation Theatre Users’ Group that met here earlier this month.

The meeting conducted by Hospital Management Board chairman S.C. Tiwari, looked at the growing infection rate and tried to work out solutions to improve the situation.

According to the minutes of the meeting circulated among the members, it was noted “that for the last one month the air cultures from all the operation theatres have been coming positive for bacterial growth which should necessitate closure of the OT. Also, on the day of the resident doctors’ strike (August 29), all cultures tested negative clearly suggesting that it is the crowd movement inside the theatre that is responsible for positive cultures”.

The minutes also point out that “the high infection rate is because of excessive number of people, absence of specific protocols and certain wrong practices in the OT.”

The group has also listed several corrective steps to improve the situation, including more discipline, revamping of waste disposal practices and regulating the number of visitors to the OT area.

Claims refuted

Refuting the claims, AIIMS spokesperson Shakti Kumar Gupta on Thursday said: “There is no need for the public to panic. The Infection Control Committee of AIIMS regularly collects and monitors the samples for culture from the OTs, Intensive Care Units, wards and other patient care areas. As a routine, all the OT are regularly cleaned and fumigated. The hospital-associated infection rate in AIIMS is less compared with the best hospitals in the world.”