Chinese health sector calls for action on HAIs
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
China’s nosocomial -hospital acquired - infections burden is affecting 10% of its patients yearly at a cost of more than RNB10bn (US$1.5bn) and needs to be addressed. This was the message conveyed by doctors and politicians at a meeting in October at the General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army in Wuhan, China. Equipment such as respirators and blood dialysis machines, as well as hand cleanliness, were highlighted as key causes of hospital acquired infections (HAIs), which allegedly caused the death of eight newborn babies in Xi’an (the capital of northwest Shaanxi province) in September. Health ministry official Deng Min made the point that most HAIs are preventable and that greater attention therefore must be paid to pathogen isolation, asceptic surgery, and monitoring of hospital sanitation and ventilation, reports the Xinhua news agency. HAIs and a lack of proper HAI incidence data are a worldwide cause for concern. Current estimates are that around 6 million HAIs occur across the US, Europe and Japan annually. The US is estimated to have 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths from HAIs per year; and 3,000,000 patients across Europe are estimated to suffer from HAIs annually, with around 50,000 deaths occurring as a consequence of the infection.
You may also be interested in...
Asia Regulatory Forum Update
Three upcoming medical device regulations were discussed at BSI’s Hong Kong Forum in April that will be important to the success of Hong Kong’s voluntary regulatory system, the Medical Device Administrative Control System.
Saudi Arabia adopts interim device authorisation regulation
Saudi Arabia has adopted an interim marketing authorisation regulation under which, possibly as early as 2010, only medical devices that have been approved by the Saudi Arabia Food and Drug Administration will be allowed on the market1. Additionally, only medical devices that comply with the regulations in force in the European Union, the US, Canada, Japan or Australia – ie in the jurisdiction of a Global Harmonization Task Force founding member - will be eligible for marketing in the country2,3.
Canada takes action to increase more adverse event reporting
The government of Canada has launched a marketing campaign to encourage consumers and healthcare professionals to use the country’s MedEffect initiative for reporting suspected adverse events related to healthcare products1.