AIIMS facing risk of spread of infection

New Delhi: The country`s premier medical institution AIIMS is facing risk of spread of infection from use of `contaminated` equipment to its ICUs where critical patients are kept, an RTI query has revealed.

At the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre of AIIMS it has been found that the blood stream infection (BSI) rate is 7.5/1000, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is 20.3/1000 ventilator days and surgical site infection (SSI)is 2.5/1000 catheter days, Dr Sanjeev Lalwani, central public information officer with the hospital said. A microbiologist with AIIMS said that there should be no infection at all as it is a cause of morbidity and mortality for patients. "Sadly we do not have set standards to declare a percentage of infection rate as bad or good. But for BSI we follow the central line -- associated blood-stream infection rate which is zero. "So 7.5/1000 catheter days BSI means infection rate is on the higher side and hospital should exercise caution." Central venous catheters, sometimes called central lines, are used with a good percent of ICU patients. The devices are long, thin, flexible tubes inserted into a patient`s vein in order to deliver medications, fluids, nutrients, or blood products over a long period of time. Infection can develop if the line is not placed or maintained using sterile conditions and the highest infection control standards. A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. Patients in critical condition who can`t breathe effectively on their own are placed on a ventilator for respiratory assistance. However, as a complication of this therapy, infections can sometimes develop. Ajay Marathe of Mumbai had filed the RTI application with the hospital to inquire about the precautionary measures adopted to control infection at this state-of-the-art patient care centre for acutely injured patients. PTI