About 600,000 of the 7.5 million people hospitalized in Vietnam every year contact infections at hospital, Prof. Dr. Le Hoang Ninh head of the Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, said at a seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City on October 21.

They can be classified in three categories: incision, respiration, and digestion

He also said healthcare centres should set up infection-control systems to reduce the rate of hospital-caused diseases.

It is highly important to stop infections from spreading through the environment, he added.

Hospitals should build facilities based on ISO 9000 and ISO1400 standards and have isolation wards to limit contact between patients.

While all tools and even floors have to be cleaned with antiseptics, the chemicals should be used based on the seriousness of the infection threat, he said.

Dr Le Thi Anh Thu, head of Cho Ray General Hospital's Hospital-Acquired Infection Control Ward, said failure to scrupulously follow disinfection regulations is one of the main causes of infection.

Some hospitals do not pay much attention to disinfecting tools, especially endo-scopes, she added.

Ninh also said the air circulation system in hospitals, especially surgery rooms, should be designed and operated carefully to minimise infection.

Water and food distributed at hospitals had to meet the national standards, he said.
To achieve this, streng-thening health workers' awareness of infection was a key requirement.

A HCM City-based obstetrics hospital reported that 111 of 129 patients contracted post-natal infection between May and July this year.

The leading causes of infection are E. coli (42.5 per cent), enterococci (16.4 per cent), enterobacteria (10.3), staphylococci (10.3 per cent), and streptococci (7.5 per cent).

 
Source:SGGP, VNA_Translated by Thanh Huong