In the backdrop of reported emergence of ‘New Delhi Metallo – Lectamase - 1 (NDM-1) Superbugs’, a drug resistant bacteria found in India, department of pharmacy practice of the Annamalai University, Chidambaram has taken proactive steps to sensitize the health professionals in RMMC Hospitals on preventing hospital acquired infection.

A series of orientation and sensitization workshops have been jointly organized by the department of pharmacy practice and RMMC Hospital for nurses, pharmacists, sanitary workers and doctors. Around 200 health professionals were covered under the programme, said Dr Guru Prasad Mohanta, Professor, Department of Pharmacy.

While addressing the first workshop, vice chancellor, Dr M Ramanathan, called upon the health professionals to follow good practices to prevent Hospital Acquired Infections for the benefit of both the patients and the health professionals. The average prevalence of hospital acquired infection in South East Asia Region is 10 per cent causing public health hazards with increasing economic and human impact. He insisted that the doctors should judiciously use antibiotics to prevent the emergence of resistance.

Under this programme, the trained professionals from various health disciplines participated as resource persons discussing the areas like hand hygiene, person to person, and environment to person transmission of infections, importance of sanitization, appropriate disposal of biomedical wastes and the practical aspects of precautions required to be followed by health professionals.

The orientation and sensitization programme was led by a team of doctors including Dr G P Mohanta, Dr P K Manna, Dr S Parimalakrishnan and Dr R Manavalan of the Department of Pharmacy Practice. Other members of the campaign team included: Dr C K Dhanapal, S Madhusudhan, R T Saravana Kumar, K Saravanan, R Mahesh, G Veeramani, G Gopalakrishnan, P Mahendravaraman and D Ashok Kumar.

The programme has been supported by the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN), Kenya.