• Team inspects health facility following emergence of HIV cases among 78 children• Detects syringe needles manually removed and not disposed of in sharps bins• Observes medical waste was not being segregated and disposed of according to infection prevention and control guidelines
KARACHI: The Sindh Healthcare Commission has found that at Valika Hospital, needles were manually removed from syringes after use and were not found in sharps bins.
“This raised serious concerns about the hospital’s medical waste management practices, as it was unclear where the removed needles had gone or how they had been disposed of,” the healthcare commission said in a statement issued here on Friday.
A team of the healthcare commission, which conducted a visit of the hospital to review progress on its recommendations, observed that the technical staff could not explain where the needles were disposed of or whether any other method of disposal was being used.
The Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI)-run Valika Hospital in SITE has been in the news for all the wrong reasons after an HIV outbreak was reported there, with at least 78 children found to be infected with the disease. A screening in the nearby area also confirmed 120 additional cases.
