Countering infections not an easy task – CMO

Dec 30, 2015 News

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Dealing with infections in a hospital setting is no easy task. This assertion was amplified by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) within the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, during an interview with this publication.
He disclosed that an outbreak of an infection in the neonatal unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) has since seen strategic measures being engaged to prevent a reoccurrence. He said that while it is important that all sections of health delivery settings confirm to certain standards, special effort is currently being focused on the neonatal unit.
To help address the problem, Dr. Persaud said that the services of a consultant were retained who was able to assess the unit and make needful recommendations.
“We want that throughout the public health sector but we have started with the Neonatal Unit. Some of the recommendations include: changing the cleaning agents, re-emphasising the importance of hand-washing and good, safe and clean practices in the delivery of health care,” informed Dr. Persaud.

Health officials had long acknowledged that the GPHC had been plagued by a sepsis which develops from infection. Sepsis is the presence of harmful bacteria and their toxins in the body tissues typically caused by the infection of a wound.
A visiting United States-based Family Physician, Dr. Lisa Singh, had earlier this year observed the situation at the GPHC and had even then regarded it a “troubling development.”  One of Dr. Singh’s relatives passed away at the hospital and it was later found that it was a result of sepsis. “I would challenge anyone to do an audit on the deaths of patients and see how many are dying of sepsis. They will see what the cause is – the lack of hand washing and aseptic techniques,” asserted Dr. Singh who claimed to witness the unhygienic operations of some medical staff while visiting her relative at the GPHC.
But based on Dr. Persaud’s disclosure, the hospital has commenced effective measures to reduce the prevalence of infections.
The challenges to achieve this goal are ever present, confided Dr. Persaud. “The hospital deals with all kinds of wounds.” He said that even soil and terrain can lend to wounds being highly contaminated even before they reach to the hospital environment.
“Every accident we have on the road can be contaminated,” said Dr. Persaud as he took solace in the fact that efforts to clean up the country can help the efforts to reduce infections. “Thankfully for the clean-up campaign; it is helping. People may not understand how that’s linked in but believe me it is…all the stuff thrown about, garbage and sewage can have an impact on what we eventually see and have to manage at the hospitals when it comes to wounds,” asserted the CMO.
He, moreover, noted that the effort to help reduce infections is not merely the task of the hospital or the Ministry of Public Health but rather it must be a collaboration of all of society. “It is a general societal problem that we all have to help addressed,” Dr. Persaud asserted.
It is believed that the remedial efforts employed at the GPHC have already started to yield results.
The Public Health Ministry had earlier this month announced that there has been a significant decrease in the deaths of babies born at the GPHC, a state of affairs that was attributed to reinforcement of preventative measures at the hospital.
According to information received the administration and doctors of the GPHC have been working closely with the Ministry of Public Health and with advice and support from the Canada-based Charity Organisation – Guyana Help the Kids (GHTK).
The measures which have been reinforced to curb the incidence, include the full sanitization of the maternity block at the hospital, and the closure to some rooms of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as well as special areas, in order to house and provide care for high risk babies.
Additionally, mothers have been encouraged to remain with their babies to access further neonatal care.
Proper infection control and strict guidelines for clean clothing, gowns, masks and shoe covers have been reinforced for all personnel. One hundred percent hand washing with appropriate solutions has also contributed to the significant reduction in the number of neonatal deaths, the Ministry has revealed.
This has, moreover, according to the Ministry, allowed for a seven per cent mortality rate in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in November. Months earlier, the mortality rate had been averaging 35 per cent for NICU admissions.
It was revealed, too, that Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton, along with technical officers will continue to engage the doctors of the GPHC and the GHTK to ensure the continued decline in the number of neonatal deaths.
The Minister applauded Dr. Sara Singh as well as the paediatric physicians, nurses and other staff of the NICU for championing the reinforcement of these measures with support and guidance from GKTK.

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