Observe Covid-19 protective measures to avert India’s experience - UBTH CMD

The management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has urged Nigerians not to relent in adhering to the Covid-19 precautionary measures so as to forestall another wave of the virus.

Darlington Obaseki, chief medical director of the hospital, who gave the advice, said increase in compliance to the recommended safety measures, including hand washing, would help to limit the spread of the disease amid raging outbreak in India.

Obaseki, while speaking in Benin City at the 2021 world hand hygiene day with the theme, ‘Achieving hand hygiene at the point of care’, stressed the need for proper hand washing practice.

“We can’t overemphasise the importance of health hygiene and hand washing in this period. We all know that we are still in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic. And we all know that Covid-19 is transmitted mostly through droplets, contact with infected persons or surfaces via your hands to your face, your mouth, nose and your eyes.

“Our responsibility as policy makers, health administrators, managers and even as an individual is to ensure that we comply, especially in a health care setting where we are encouraged to reduce general transmission of infections between patients, from patients to health care workers by washing our hands before we touch our patients; after we touch our patients’ environment and before we even leave the hospital at the close of work.”

The CMD further said: “We have decided as a management team to mark it in this manner because the importance of hygiene in this period cannot be overemphasised. It is very apt and we all realise what is going on in Indian. I must quickly mention that what is happening in Indian doesn’t get here but that can only be achieved if we keep doing the right thing, wearing our face masks and washing our hands regularly,” Obaseki said.

On her part, Esohe Ogboghodo, chairman, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) UBTH said the best way to achieve hand hygiene at the point of care is through the World Health Organisation (WHO) multimodal improvement strategy.

Ogboghodo, a consultant public health physician, said IPC is a scientific approach and practical solution designed to prevent harm caused by infection to patients and health workers, adding that previous studies show that increased hand hygiene reduces Healthcare-associated Infections (HAI).

According to her, hand hygiene play a key role in containing the spread of diseases. It is critical in Covid-19 response.