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| UN concern on infections in hospitals | | |
THREE days stand lined out — World AIDS Day (Dec 1), International Day of Disabled Persons (Dec 3) and Human Rights Day (Dec 10). These days help re-focus on the grim realities in different spheres.
Maybe, some level of awareness has come about but the number of the affected isn’t declining. Even if one were to argue that medical facilities are coming up, to counter the growing numbers of the affected, the latest UN report, quoting WHO sources, states that at any given moment, some 1.4 million people worldwide are ill because of infections acquired in hospitals.
In developed countries, 5 to 10 per cent of all patients fall ill because of infections acquired in hospitals while in some developing countries a quarter of patients may be affected. According to the report, the WHO has come up with a simple way out to counter this. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers need to wash and clean their hands every time they see a patient.
In the Indian context, to the best of my knowledge, there is no data available on this, i.e. the number of those who get infected in hospitals. It could be a large percentage, with the conditions in and around. At times, it is almost frightening to go near those wards and corridors of hospitals.
A few years back, as I had called on a so-called VVIP, who had suffered a fall from an aircraft and was recovering in the special ward of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, one was shocked to see monkeys loitering around (yes, as comfortably as the rest of the inmates). When I had pointed out this to the heavily bandaged man and his family, they showed their helplessness and said there was nothing they could do to counter the monkey menace.
Surprisingly, this persists to this day with mosquitoes also joining the brigade! What can the patient and caretakers do to ease out this rather ironical situation of acquiring more infections and disease whilst being lodged in hospitals? I am no medical expert, but I do strongly feel that for a developing country like ours, the alternative system of medicine needs to be given its due. It’s a pity that even herbs and herbal remedies are bypassed as disease and the numbers of the affected seems going up.
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