Hyderabad: Medical tourists often carry bugs from foreign countries back home with them. Eventually, they develop full-blown procedure-related infections, especially if they do not have access to aftercare. Some countries blame these infections on the quality of healthcare in India.
A paper published in Oxford Academic journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases, highlights the cases of 20 patients who carried home superbugs from other countries.
Hospital administrator Dr A.V. Ratnam says that not all hospitals maintain the standards of hygiene required for infection control. They ensure that their floors are clean and that their nurses and ward boys wear masks, but their sterilisation of equipment, separation of blood products, and disposal of biomedical wastes is not up to the mark.
“This is the cause of cases of sepsis, toxin infections, and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. In countries such as USA, UK and Japan, there are recording systems in place which make it easy for them to point fingers at India as the source of infection,” says Dr Ratnam.
In India, only accredited hospital maintain a record of hospital-acquired infections, and this practice came into being only two years ago. Smaller hospitals do not maintain any such records, nor do officials from the health department or the drug enforcement department conduct regular checks.
An inquiry is only ordered in the event of a patient or his family filing a complaint with the medical council or the state department.
However, Dr Hari Prasad, the president of the Hospitals Division of Apollo Hospitals, does not believe that India is a source of infections. “Where is the data to prove it? No patient who has any kind of infection is discharged or allowed to travel. We have world-class medical facilities in India; patients are given the best care,” he says.
