The nosocomial infection rate in a facility can be an indicator of quality and safety of care, avers Lt Col. M Iqbal from MH Jabalpur.

Presenting a paper on hospital acquired infection (HAI) at the 52nd AFMS meet in Pune, Col. Iqbal said the development of a surveillance process to monitor the rate is essential to identify local problems and priorities and evaluate the effectiveness of infection control activity. “Surveillance by itself is an effective process to decrease the frequency of HAI,” said he.

Hospital acquired infection (HAI) has assumed greater significance with the emergence of HIV infection. HAI affects two million people worldover.

Citing an example from a study carried out in a 590-bedded zonal hospital in Jabalpur he said the highest rate of nosocomial infection was found in acute medical ward and majority of cases were of hospital acquired diarrhoea/dysentery and problem was traced particularly amongst patients who consumed vegetarian food specifically paneer.

Prevalence rate of HAI in 15-30 age group was estimated to be 18.95 per cent higher than the prevalence rate in other age group below 60. Though it is statistically significant but this higher rate maybe because of non- homogenous nature of study population with preponderance of recruits falling in the age group of 15-30 years.

However, he added that the present study could not ascertain the risk of HAI due to prolonged hospitalization as it was just a point prevalence study. “Further prospective studies can elaborate the risk involved in causing HAI due to prolonged hospitalization,” he pointed out.

The prevalence rate of HAI in India is estimated to be around 10-25 per cent and in best of hospitals it is estimated to be 3-5 per cent.