People come to the hospital hoping for recovery. But if you get sick and die from there without getting well, then how is the matter! Yes, that's how it happens! The patient is admitted with fever and dies of pneumonia or some other infection. This is called Hospital Acquired Infection or Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI). The death rate is very high.
Germs are spread from person to person through hospital beds, patient files, toilets, medical equipment, visitors and care providers. One out of every three patients hospitalized for more than 48 hours is infected with a new pathogen. Apart from the disease he is admitted with, he is suffering from another disease. There is no more cross infection than that.
Two studies were conducted on 11 major hospitals in ICDDRB Dhaka on hospital transmission and hand hygiene. This information has emerged.
Recently, an official of WASA said that one of his relatives was admitted to the hospital with fever. He also recovered. Suddenly his condition worsened, he had to be admitted to ICU. After that he died there.
Head of research and associate scientists at ICDDRB Md. Golam Dastgir Harun said about the death of that person. "This death may be due to infection from the hospital. Those admitted to the ICU develop aspiration pneumonia and died of pneumonia.The infection is either due to hospital stay and use of hospital equipment or from another patient or doctor-nurse or from the hospital environment. It is a very big problem in the country."
"It was seen that one person's surgery went very well, then another got an infection. There is no treatment for stroke other than neurological treatment. Two days later, he developed a fever. Why is the fever? He was given a catheter. This is catheter associated infection. Someone gave saline, there was an infection from there. Ventilator-induced infectious pneumonia. All these are healthcare associated infections," he added.
Studies have shown that hand hygiene practices are not well followed by patients' relatives and healthcare providers. According to the World Health Organization, hand hygiene alone can reduce hospital infections by 50 percent.A large number of patients are dying due to unhygienic touch.
Reputed medicine expert emeritus professor Dr. ABM Abdullah said that most of the diseases enter the body through germs on the hands. So keeping hands clean is very important. He advised to always keep hand sanitizer close at hand.
It was seen recently in a hospital in Dhaka that patients are not only on the bed but also on the floor. There are always more patients in this hospital than capacity. Multiple people were also seen sitting on the patient's bed. The doctor and nurse is not maintaining hand- hygiene before or after seeing the patient. The question of hand-hygiene of cleaners or wardboys does not arise.
Experts say that a large part of the people of the country is going abroad for treatment. A major reason behind this is hospital infection. If someone is admitted with fever and dies, people's place of trust is lost. Patients tend to go abroad only then.
"People go to India for treatment because infection prevention is practiced there. We have not started such practice. If you go to a private hospital in India, you will see that no doctor touches a patient without hand hygiene. The environment of the hospital is very good," said Scientist Md. Golam Dastgir Harun.
Mentioning the name of a private hospital in the capital, Golam Dastgir Harun said, "Tell one doctor of that hospital to perform surgery in Dhaka Medical. The infection rate is one to two percent in private hospitals of high quality. And in Dhaka government hospital it will be about 25 percent. Why? The surgeon or the doctor is not the problem. The problem is management of the hospital authority."
The ICDDRB study revealed that two groups spread the infection. Healthcare providers and patient's relatives. Scientist Golam Dastgir explains how infection spreads through these two groups.
"How do doctors, nurses, service providers and cleaners spread germs? Doctors are not performing hand hygiene before or after seeing patients. They are seeing everyone together. The rule is to perform hand hygiene before and after every patient visit. Then it will not spread from one person to another. Similarly, nurses are also spreading germs. The pens they write with in hospitals also contain germs. Hand hygiene should be done before and after touching anything in the hospital. If hand hygiene can be done in the five minutes indicated by the World Health Organization, then 50 percent of infections will be reduced. The patient file contains the most germs in the hospital. Doctors, nurses and cleaners look at patient files. I went, I will see, if another goes, he will see. Patients are being taken to the laboratory to have this test done. Patient files are contaminated everywhere. Hand hygiene should be done before and after handling the patient file. Many people keep patient files behind the patient's bed. This too cannot be done," he added.
According to a reliable source, cleaners do all kinds of work in hospitals wearing a glove. Cleaners bring food, sometimes insert catheters, clean urine from catheters, clean toilets, sometimes stitch the patient. They travel from the canteen to the director's room. There are also some people who comes from OT and brings singara to that state. A lot of germs spread from them.
ICDDRB scientists followed more than 250 cleaners for several days to observe their work. The researchers were very disappointed by their work. Seen, they work as and when they please. Also seen cleaning hospital floors with toilet mops.
"How can you control? Are you controlling infection or are you spreading? A distinction must be made here. He who cleans the toilet will not clean the ward," commented ICDDRB associate scientist Dr. Md. Nuhu Amin.
The health department has written to all the hospitals of the country to form a committee for infection control. This committee will train three groups for 1 hour every three months. No one can enter the hospital without this training.
