PESHAWAR: Health department has selected 20 hospitals for assessment by National Institute of Health Islamabad before implementation of infection control and prevention strategy in line with the guidelines of World Health Organisation, according to officials.

They said that the move was meant to prevent hospitalbased infection. The decision was taken in the first meeting of technical working group (TWG) on infection prevention and control (IPC) held here on Wednesday with the additional director-general health services of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Dr Shahid Yunis, in the chair.

The meeting decided to form district and hospital level committees under respective district health officers (DHOs) andhead ofthe designated hospital for implementation of infection control measures.

The committees will work under the guidance of TWG.

Officials said that the intervention was also part of National Action Plan for Health Services. The list of the selected hospitals will be sent to NIH, Islamabad that will carry out assessment of the facilities and will provide assistance to them to put in place IPC measures and safeguard patients from host of ailments.

They said that the IPC strategy was an international obligation of the government under which all the provinces were forming committees to provide safety to patients and visitors of hospitals from infections suchas hepatitis, HIV/Aids and others.

Officials said that hospital level committees would also present a list of demands regarding their needs to government for putting in place strategy for prevention and control of infections on the basis of number of patients being treated both in OPD and indoor units that would also identify the needs of hospitals.

They said that NIH would help to strengthen those hospitals by providing laboratory equipments related to IPC, personal protective gears and tools for disposal of waste management in a scientific way.

Officials said that the district level committed would also oversee disposal of hospital waste, which had been one of the reasons of spreading infections to patients at health facilities. They said that the committees would ensure proper dis-posal of waste. They added that segregation of waste was important as per guidelines of WHO.

The NIH will impart training to personnel, who will act as master trainers to train healthcare professionals in the institution and province for effective enforcement of the IPC strategies. The IPC TWG will also devise its action plan for the year2025 andbeyond.The programme include trainings for members of all sections of the selected hospitals.

Officials said that International Health Regulation (IHR) through NIH would evaluate the progress in 2028. They said that they had included some Peshawar-based tertiary care hospitals including Burn and Plastic Surgery Centre at Hayatabad Medical Complex where patients were vulnerable to infections due to sensitive nature of their wounds.They said that Safwat Ghayur Children hospital, Peshawar, was also part of the programme. They said that hospitals in Mardan, Nowshera and other districts were also among the facilities to see implementation of IPC. They said that trained people would supervise the situation in their respective hospitals and would seek guidance whenever they needed.

The department has also taken on board Health Care Commission and Public Health Reference Laboratory to implement the strategy effectively and do away with preventable infections.

Officials said that health department on its own had also been taking steps to control infections at hospitals but that opportunity could be used to put in place a system on sustainable basis for the purpose.