Infection Control Academy of India (IFCAI) Hyderabad in association with Air indoor Assessment Pvt Ltd, New Delhi today organized the first ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) in Jammu and Kashmir titled “Infection Prevention & Control post COVID era” at SKICC, Srinagar.Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar was the Chief Guest on the occasion while as Principal Government Medical College Srinagar, Dr Samia Rashid; President IFCAI Dr Ranga Reddy Burri, dignitaries from all medical college and hospitals, infection control members and microbiologist also attended the CME.At the outset, Advisor Bhatnagar praised healthcare workers for their role in the fight against COVID-19. He said that our doctors, nurses, clinical officers, and medical support staff have worked without tiring and have put their hearts and minds to the service of others selflessly during the last three years.The Advisor said that the union territory handled the Covid-19 pandemic with great professionalism and used all possible resources to provide care to patients suffering from the disease. He said while the UT successfully managed to stem the spread of first COVID wave but it didn’t stopped there and continued to ramp up the facilities that were required to fight the disease.
Advisor Bhatnagar said that sufficient measures were taken by the administration which included increasing bed capacity, oxygen generation capacity or availability, ensuring supply of drugs and consumables, and management of protocols or directions. He also acknowledged the great strides J&K has achieved in the last 2-3 years and said that the infrastructure build up has gone a sea change.Regarding the medical education, the Advisor said that it has shown a quantum jump over the past three years and the government has opened new Medical Colleges besides upgrading the district hospitals and Community Health Centres. He further added that the UT is going to have special cancer hospitals at Srinagar and Jammu which would provide a huge relief to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.Regarding Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), Advisor Bhatnagar said that it is becoming one of the most important topics that is gaining attention post COVID era.
He said that CME titled “Infection Prevention & Control post COVID era” is being conducted at the right time and hoped that a good action plan would come out of the CME that would help us in Infection, Prevention and Control.Dr Ranga Reddy Burri in his welcome address said that IPC is becoming a mainstream topic and most hospitals across the country are adopting it fully for providing better protection to the people. He said that IPC is going to make a huge difference in future times and said that IFCAI is ready to provide support to all the health Institutions across India to build up their capacities in IPC.During the session medical practitioners who attended the session shared their knowledge and experiences on various topics. The topics include WHO Core components: a starting point for establishing and strengthening effective IPC programs, challenges and opportunities for infection preverition and control in Indian hospitals, role of IPC, AMR and AMS in improvement of quality and patient safety. The session also witnessed panel discussion on “How to sustain IPC practices in Post COVID era” and “How to stop Superbugs and contain AMR the “silent pandemic”.