Survey Of Infection Control Programs In India

Background: Infections and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have spread around the globe, but infection prevention and control (IPC) lagged behind. Despite considerable progress in the  development of IPC programmes in countries with limited resources, programmes in most developing world settings are non-existent, or are not implemented and not uniform. As part of new initiative to improve IPC practices, we assessed the IPC programmes & practices across Indian hospitals.

Methods: The survey was conducted during the 1st Indian infection control conference (new initiative) held during January 2013. IPC program contacts who have attended the conference were asked to fill the structured IPC program assessment questionnaire. The questionnaire included details regarding administrative & accreditation aspects  of hospital IPC program, surveillance of hospital acquired infections (HAIs), antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) etc., were collected and analyzed.

Results: One hundred hospitals across India with nearly 400 hundred participants attended the conference. However only 20 hospitals (20/100) having IPC program filled the questionnaire. Only 9 hospitals IPC program was accredited by the accreditation agencies. Microbiologists headed the infection control programs in most(8/20) of the hospitals. Hospital antibiograms were available in 15 hospitals, isolation practices were followed in 12 hospitals. Surveillance for HAIs were followed in majority(15/20) of the hospitals. ASP was not available in 50 % of the hospitals and occupational safety program was available only in 9 hospitals.

Conclusion: IPC programs were available only in 20 % of the Indian hospitals. IPC program structure, practices and policies varied widely among them. There is an urgent need for National IPC guidelines and standards to improve & benchmark IPC practices in India.