KATH celebrates world hand hygiene day

Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) has marked this year’s World Hand Hygiene Day with a call on people to place premium on proper hand washing to avoid infections.

Mrs Faustina Acheampong, Deputy Director of Nursing Service in charge of Infection, Prevention and Control, said every effort should be made to substantially increase the number of people practicing hand washing.

The day was meant to highlight the importance of proper hand washing to get both health workers and patients to adopt and stick to the practice.

“Strengthening health care systems and delivery- Hand hygiene is your entrance door” was the theme for the event.

Mrs Acheampong told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines that a research conducted by the referral facility shows that 65 per cent of patients washed their hands well.

The achievement, she said, had come on the back of sustained awareness creation over the years.

Mrs Acheampong said it is important to keep the momentum adding that this is necessary to prevent hospital acquired infections.

She said apart from commemorating the day, KATH had instituted a quarterly training on hand hygiene and in-service training for new employees on infection control.

The day saw nurses demonstrating proper hand washing with sanitisers, soap and water to out-patients and other community members.