The SHCC’s regulatory inspection found that used needles were not being disposed of in sharps bins, hospital staff could not explain disposal of needles (Photo credit: ANI)
At least 78 children have contracted HIV in an outbreak in Pakistan’s Karachi linked to serious infection-control and medical waste management failures at a state-run hospital. The Sindh government has continued screening people in the affected area, promised treatment at public expense and announced a long-term fund for children affected by the outbreak.
The SHCC also found that medical waste was not being segregated and disposed of according to infection prevention and control guidelines. Independent inquiries into the outbreak found widespread failures in infection-prevention practices, including the dangerous reuse of single-use syringes. The findings have raised fresh questions over the safety of medical procedures and the handling of infectious waste at one of Sindh’s state-run hospitals. During its inspection, the SHCC found that technical personnel were unable to tell inspectors how contaminated medical waste was being disposed of. The hospital had also failed to provide formal safety training to staff or produce written guidelines for handling medical waste and following infection-control procedures. The condition of the hospital’s autoclave, a machine used to sterilise medical equipment, could not be verified. Nursing staff and operation theatre personnel were also absent from their posts during duty hours, making it difficult for inspectors to assess routine infection-control practices. Hospital staff had poor knowledge of safe medical waste handling, while the private contractor responsible for collecting and disposing of the waste had not received proper training. The hospital’s infection-control failures persisted despite the establishment of an Infection Prevention and Control Committee. The commission also cited staff unionisation and a lack of cooperation with safety protocols as factors that had compromised the handling of medical waste. However, the Valika Hospital findings have raised concerns that similar infection-control failures could exist in other public and private healthcare facilities.