Qatar- PHCC joins 'Clean Your Hands' drive

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Workers at primary healthcare centres are at a high risk of spreading infections from one patient to another, say experts.

However, a simple act as washing hands before and after attending patients can prevent infection spreading and control many diseases, said officials at the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) yesterday.

PHCC is conducting a survey every month among its health workers at primary healthcare centers on hand hygiene.

The practice has improved among healthcare workers between 2009 and 2015, from 40 percent to 87 percent, said Dr Shawqiya Salman Al Majid, Consultant, PHCC.

PHCC will join the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s 'Save lives: Clean Your Hands' awareness campaign under the slogan 'hand hygiene is your entrance door' during this month.

'Save lives: Clean Your Hands' is WHO's global annual call to action for health workers. WHO says that hand hygiene at the right time saves lives and in healthcare it has saved millions of lives in the last years and is a quality indicator of safe healthcare systems.

Coinciding with the annual International Hand Hygiene Day which is observed on May 5, the campaign will include distribution of brochures and booklets aimed at raising awareness among people on the importance of hand hygiene and showing them the best ways to wash hands.

Maria Nina Valisto, Infection Control Coordinator at PHCC said: "The campaign will target all segments of society and will be conducted at 21 health centres all over the country. The campaign will be attended by health centre visitors, doctors, nurses and staff.

Infections can be stopped through good hand hygiene, she said.

Dr Ahmad Abedahamid Basuney, coordinator of risk management at the PHCC, said prevention is the best way to save people from infection and primary healthcare providers have the responsibility to raise awareness of the people and prevent them from infections.

Primary healthcare providers have the responsibility to raise awareness among people on how to protect themselves from diseases and encourage them to acquire the habit of hand hygiene to reduce the rates of infection, said Dr Hashim.

"The PHCC insists on all staff to be committed to hand hygiene as the first step to the protection of people's health," he said.