Expert from US alarmed at needle stick injuries

“There are safer ways to dispose needles,” Jagger says pointing out that they have helped countries set up a surveillance system under the Exposure Prevention Information Net (EPINET).

“We need to secure the lives of health care workers who face a significant risk of hospital-based infections,’’ says Jagger. In the US,an aggressive health surveillance system has brought down about 12,000 occupational infections per year to barely a handful,she told The Indian Express.

“There are three main blood borne viral infections that health care workers are exposed to including Hepatitis B,Hepatitis C and HIV. We have ensured that the vaccine against Hepatitis B is given to all levels of health care workers,” says Jagger.

In India,however,85 per cent of the health care workers are in the private setting and the lack of a legislation aggravates the problem of their safety,say doctors at the conference. However,a beginning has been made in India as there is awareness about the need for documentation of infection cases,says Jagger.

On Saturday,she will interact with representatives from hospital managements,accreditation agencies and the nursing community apart from clinicians on health care workers’ safety and their aggressive approach to contain infections.