Saifee hospital commits too tighter sterilization protocols under international guidelines for COVID-19 and other patients to ensure containment of the coronavirus infection.
October 26th, 2020, Mumbai: With the second wave of COVID-19 patients predicted, Saifee Hospital, a renowned multi-specialty healthcare facility and Mumbai’s leading COVID-19 care hospital, further tightened its already stringent sterilization protocols in keeping with international guidelines.
The South Mumbai hospital is amongst the few healthcare facilities with a fully equipped Central Sterile Supply Department (CSSD) with state-of-the-art equipment. The hospital has three steam sterilizers with environment-friendly Aqua-Zero technology and a thermal disinfector to disinfect instruments without the use of harmful chemical disinfectants. Special care is taken to ensure the best disinfection implements by sourcing from well-known brands.
Extra measures to ensure the isolation of COVID-19 patients
Given the highly communicable nature of the coronavirus infection, the hospital has taken extra measures to ensure the isolation of COVID-19 patients for the safety of non-COVID-19 patients, such as the use of separate instruments and infrastructure for COVID -19 patient care. This includes a dedicated elevator; specially made bags and airtight containers to transport materials; and an automated washer-disinfector for cleaning instruments. Strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are maintained, such as ensuring frequent surface cleaning, hand washing, hand sanitization, social distancing, the use of Personal Protective Equipment and N95 masks by the healthcare workers.
Commenting on their sterilization program, Mr. Sadashiv Gaonkar, Senior Manager at Saifee Hospital said, “As one of the country’s premier healthcare facilities, we have always been conscious of sterilization and infection control at our premises. This is why we have invested heavily in sterilization equipment and maintain the highest standards as per international guidelines. The COVID-19 infection has necessitated another level of sterilization as we must isolate our COVID-19 patients from the non-infected population. We have further tightened all our disinfection protocols in keeping with the strictest standards. We have also undertaken extensive training of our staff and other healthcare personnel to ensure that SOPs are maintained at all times”.
Saifee Hospital is the first healthcare facility in India to adopt the latest All Clear Technology of hydrogen peroxide-based gas plasma low-temperature sterilizer. The staff is regularly trained in the latest protocols at the ultra-modern CSSD facilities. To avoid cross-contamination, the hospital has clearly demarcated areas for decontamination, assembly & packing, loading and sterile storage. The hospital abides by all the well-established international healthcare guidelines issued by WHO, CDC, AAMI and EN.
As per these directives, Saifee Hospital also maintains all documentation of test reports for Quality Assurance. To ensure reliability and top performance, periodical evaluation of all machines is undertaken by using mechanical, chemical, and biological indicators. Saifee Hospital is NABH accredited and archived prestigious APSIC (Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control) CSSD Center of Excellence Gold Award (2015-16), felicitated at Bangkok.
