Renowned panel from World Health Organisation (WHO)comprising Prof Didier Pittet and Prof Wing-HongSeto had inspected the hospital
NewZNew (S A S Nagar) : Fortis Hospital, Mohali won the prestigious Asia Pacific Hand Hygiene Award, 2015 for demonstrating outstanding leadership in implementation of an effective hand hygiene campaign. This was done in tandem with the World Health Organisation’s Global Patient Safety Challenge – Clean Care is Safer Care.
An independent delegation of world leading experts comprising Prof Didier Pittet (Chair), Director, WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, Switzerland and Prof Dr Wing-Hong Seto, Director, WHO Collaboration Centre on Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Controlvisitedthe applicants who reached the finals in order to evaluate the programme on the basis of their creativity, innovation and local/ regional leadership against a set of global criteria. The expert delegation also discussed with the hospital management and provided advice in relation to ongoing efforts, sustainability and outcome measures.
“It is a moment of pride for us at Fortis as well as for India. We are humbled at the feat that our hospital is one of the two hospitals from the entire Asia-Pacific region selected as winners for this coveted prize. Our effort to ensure best practice for patient safety has been duly recognized through this award. Our story on hand hygiene will be presented at the APSIC conference,” said Mr Abhijit Singh, Facility Director, Fortis Hospital Mohali.
Out of many applicants, about 3-4 hospitals are shortlisted in each country for the visit by the experts. This year, three hospitals from India made it to the finalists. “The site visit entailed a visit to the clinical areas, engagement with the clinical staff, patients and the leadership, besides verification of the facts,” said Dr Anita Sharma, Senior Consultant – Lab Medicine & Head of Infection Control at Fortis Mohali.
The Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control (APSIC) congratulated Fortis Hospital Mohali through a statement,“As laureate of this award, we hope that your centre will continue to show leadership and become a role model for other hospitals in your region to excel in hand hygiene. We wish you all the very best in the future and congratulations again!”
APSIC is a multi-national, voluntary, organization dedicated to the advancement of infection prevention and control. Their main objective is to build a network of infection control professionals working towards quality healthcare in the Asia Pacific.Fortis Hospital, Mohali is the second from India to win this coveted award since 2011. The past winners have included Prince of Wales England, Hong Kong, Bethesda Hospital, Australia, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan, among others.
A representative of Fortis Hospital Mohali shall collect the award during the Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control Congress 2017 scheduled to take place at Bangkok in February 2017.