Gauteng hospital infections on the rise due to lack of infection control

MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko answered questions about infection control in Gauteng hospitals this week and the dramatic rise of hospital-acquired infections

NEWS

More than 7 000 patients contracted infections in Gauteng public hospitals last year, due to poor infection control in facilities, with Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital leading with sky-rocketing infections.

Chris Hani Baragwanath had 376 nosocomial infections in 2014, but these rocketed to 1 542 last year. Nosocomial infections are those acquired during the process of receiving health care that was not present during the time of admission and are often caused by organisms resistant to antibiotics.

A total of 7 457 patients picked up infections in Gauteng public hospitals last year, mostly due to poor infection control measures.

These figures were revealed by Gauteng Health and Wellness MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko in a written reply to DA ‘s shadow health MEC Jack Bloom’s questions to the legislature on Monday.

Bloom said this meant that patients that went into the facilities for treatment for one illness came out with another one because infection was not controlled and monitored properly as it should have been.

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According to the Nkomo-Ralehoko’s responses, there were weekly and monthly Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) surveillance records, but no data was collected for 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19. pandemic

She said in 2022, there were 7 457 of 116 366 patients who got nosocomial infections, of which 5 032 were in the seven central and tertiary hospitals. The infections are broken down as follows:

The nine regional hospitals accounted for 1 617 of all hospital-acquired infections, ranging from 138 infections at Pholosong Hospital to 626 infections at Leratong hospital, which is more than double the next highest figure of 255 infections at the Rahima Moosa Hospital.

According to Bloom, these numbers are ridiculously high.

“If you properly manage and infection control daily it will not get out hand. But if it’s not properly managed daily and weekly then it means people will walk into hospitals to pick up sicknesses instead of getting treatment and help.

“It is distressing that more than one in twenty patients will pick up an infection while in hospital,” Bloom said.

“The most prevalent nosocomial infection is CRE/CPE, which are carbapenem-resistant or carbapenemase-producing bacteria that cause a variety of infections including urinalysis tract infections, wound infections, gastroenteritis, meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia,” explained Bloom.

According to Bloom, there were 1038 ESBL infections, which are resistant to penicillin, 980 cases of acinetobacter baumann MDR/XDR, and 584 cases of clostridium difficile, which inflames the colon and can be fatal.

Also of concern are 468 cases of Klebsiella Pneumonia, which has caused deaths of babies in previous outbreaks.

Bloom said:

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Bloom emphasised that there appeared to be a sharp rise in hospital-acquired infections as there were only 975 such infections in 2014 according to a previous official reply to questions, but this may partly be due to improved monitoring.

He said latest figures indicate the need for tight infection controls and proper hygiene to cut hospital infections as much as possible.