DURBAN - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has shown concerns over lack of infection prevention and control measures in hospitals urging the health department to disinfect the healthcare facilities continuously.
“The world health agency has imparted training on infection prevention and control to health workers in hospitals during the ongoing pandemic but the hospitals are not carrying out the exercise which may complicate the situation,” said the organisation.
According to WHO the Infection prevention and control (IPC) is meant to scale up the capacity of the health professionals on how to use personal protective equipment (PPEs) and discard them after usage, use of incinerators in epidemics and disinfect the area housing the infected patients.
The measures also include washing hands and adherence to social distancing rules by the health workers involved in the management of patients to keep themselves and others safe from the infection.
An investigation report earlier this year after an outbreak at the Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban led to the infection of at least 135 patients and staff found that the spread at the hospital was through droplets left on surfaces and transferred by health workers.
The findings suggested that facilities be cleaned often since the report shows the environment around a Covid-19 patient could be contaminated for hours or even days depending on the surfaces.
The virus spread so fast in the hospital, that infections caused by the outbreak in the hospital constituted almost 14 percent of Covid-19 cases in KwaZulu‐Natal by the end of April.
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