The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has released new guidelines for hospitals to monitor and prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), also known as hospital-acquired infections.
Developed under the National Health Mission with inputs from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the guidelines aim to help hospitals adopt a data-driven approach to infection control. They do not specify penalties for non-compliance.
The guidelines outline a framework for district hospitals to track and report infections as part of the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) and Kayakalp initiatives. Hospitals are expected to form infection prevention and control teams, train staff, and use existing resources for microbiology testing.
Hospitals will focus on identifying and reporting infections such as surgical site infections, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Data will be submitted to a national database to monitor trends and compare performance across facilities.
A National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) survey recently found that 72% of patients in 20 major hospitals were prescribed antibiotics, with 4.6% receiving four or more types, highlighting the risk of antimicrobial resistance.
Experts say overcrowding, poor hygiene, and overuse of antibiotics contribute to infection-related deaths in India. They emphasize basic measures such as regular disinfection, proper waste management, and sterilization to improve patient safety.