NAGPUR: Medical establishments may lose Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) status if they fail to follow standard infection prevention practices as recommended by the mucormycosis task force and health officials.
Following the high court’s order, the task force’s specialist team members have prepared a standard operating procedures (SOPs) for effective infection control, hygiene and cleanliness to be followed by hospitals.
This protocol would soon be sent to all hospitals in the district.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and other officials will monitor Dedicated Covid Hospitals for adherence to the SOPs.
Dr Sanjay Chilkar, NMC chief medical officer, said the DCHs are expected to follow the protocol strictly.
“Expert team would inspect the hospitals in the coming days to ascertain whether they are following the principles laid down in the protocol.
The hospitals would be informed about lacunae, if any, following which they are expected to rectify them,” he said.
“If any hospital fails to rectify the lacunae, it would stand a chance of losing the DCH status and will not get the approval next time,” said Dr Chilkar.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Nitin Shinde said the standard protocol would revolve around how to improve air quality in hospitals and basic infection prevention, which are the two baseline causes of mucormycosis.
Vidarbha Hospitals Association (VHA) and Indian Medical Association (IMA) too have been asked by the high court to sensitize their members regarding the significance of hygiene and infection control.
According to renowned microbiologist Dr Dinesh Agrawal, a member of the task force, the hospital infection control committee and guidelines of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) focus on ensuring premises, especially key areas like wards, operation theatres and ICUs, are kept ‘organism-free’, but not many follow them diligently.
“We will provide the hospitals with basic guidelines for infection control and maintenance of hygiene as mucormycosis is an infection contracted from the surrounding and hence keeping the ambience sterile is of utmost importance,” he said.
“Our committee would visit hospitals to check their level of adherence to the guidelines,” he said.
Dr Anup Marar, convener of VHA, said the high court has directed hospitals, especially the Covid treatment facilities, to rule out any feasible causes of the fungal infections.
“Most Covid hospitals are already following infection control practices and many have now added saline nasal washes or sprays in the treatment protocol.
Likewise, Covid patients too are being advised regular check-ups of their sugar level and also ENT assessments,” he said.
A senior microbiologist, who was also part of the district team, said the standard protocol would be simple and feasible even for moderately equipped hospitals.
Dr Tushar Gawad, director (administration), Alexis Multispecialty Hospital, said environmental cleanliness and air quality management are the two most important aspects for his organization.
“We lay much stress on ample daylight and fresh air.
We also have infection control teams and our manpower is regularly trained,” he said.
“There is regular cleaning of ducts and also proper controlling of air conditioning system,” he said.