Telangana prioritizes the infection control

The Telangana government has directed teaching hospitals in the state to start implementing measures to control healthcare-associated infections. It was recently found that government hospitals in Telangana have fallen behind in implementing good practices to curb infections.

To address concerns related to infections, the state government has directed the government hospitals to set up infection control committees to provide a forum for multidisciplinary inputs, which would be responsible for planning, implementation and resource allocation of all matters related to infection prevention and control. he committees would develop infection control policies and environmental management practices to ensure adherence to standard infection control precautions.

They also review and approve annual plan prepared by the infection control team, review epidemiological surveillance data and identify areas of intervention. The other responsibilities of such a committee is to ensure capacity building for infection prevention, control and safety, prepare standard operating procedures for various medical departments and frequently review infectious risks associated with medical equipment. It has been decided to have a dedicated Infection Control Officer (ICO), a microbiologist or epidemiologist, in charge of infection control practices, provide trends for hospital-acquired infections to patient care units, and investigate outbreaks of viral, bacterial or fungal ailments and training.

It has also been decided to have an Infection Control Nurse (ICN), a nurse with an academic education and practical training to act as a specialist advisor in all aspects relating to infection control. An exclusive biomedical waste management committee in hospitals that would be in charge of implementing good practices in management of hospital waste will also be setup.