KUWAIT
March 2022
In a bid to improve hand-hygiene compliance and create awareness on the importance of hygiene and proper waste management in order to further improve infection prevention and enhance patient and healthcare personnel’s safety, Royale Hayat Hospital launched a 3-day full-fledged public awareness campaign ( March 13, 14 and 15, 2022) under the slogan “SAFE HANDS, SAVE LIVES”.
This endeavor was basically designed to serve as a useful reminder and inspiration for Royale Hayat patients, their attendants, visitors, doctors and staff members and the community altogether to incorporate the habit of hand hygiene and to raise awareness about the importance of hand hygiene in combating infections .
The campaign comprised various engagement activities such as sharing creative and innovative thoughts to promote hand hygiene in the community as interactive posts on Royale Hayat social media accounts so that the campaign reaches the maximum number of people who benefit from it.
Commenting on the occasion, Dr. Abubakr Elmardi, Chief Strategic Officer at Royale Hayat Hospital said: “This campaign is about raising the profile of hand hygiene and proper waste management to prevent infections and how everyone can help make a difference. The need for infection control and prevention is paramount for a healthy and clean environment and hand hygiene has been shown to be the most economical and effective intervention in preventing infections”.
“We, at Royale Hayat Hospital, have always strived to give our patients, their attendants, our employees, staff members, visitors and the community we serve, a safer environment - to get healed quickly, to work healthy and to live healthy” Dr. Elmardi added.
Infection associated with healthcare is the most common adverse events affecting hospitalized patients. Hand hygiene is the most important preventive measure against these infections. But compliance with this simple procedure among healthcare providers is often below 40%. Hand hygiene is an essential procedure for all healthcare providers. It serves four different purposes in the healthcare setting.
Hand hygiene prevents most communal infection in patients hospitalized and the cross transmission of microorganisms between patients. Hand hygiene also prevents contamination of the hospital environment with potential contagious germs, and finally, it helps protect healthcare workers from occupational infectious diseases such as infection with a human immunity deficiency virus and hepatitis C virus.