About Infection Control
Infection Control treats cleaning as a clinical and public health task. Recent reporting argues that hospitals can no longer judge cleanliness by sight: microbiologists and infection control officers from Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals in Kolkata, Kamalnayan Bajaj Hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Anandaloke Multi Speciality Hospital in Siliguri explain why scientific monitoring should replace visual inspection and why cleanliness is clinical care.
Biomedical waste is covered through a WHO medical officer's call to get segregation, training and enforcement right, and guidance on whether gloves, catheters and IV sets should be cut before disposal in red bags. Disinfection technology appears in UV-C robots and CSIR-developed systems on Indian Railways, a sanitisation tunnel at a loco shed, a self-cleaning mask material from IIT Mandi and a wall coating that traps droplets.
The section is written for infection control officers, hospital housekeeping and quality teams, and facility managers in high-risk settings.
Start here
- A room can shine and still be unsafe Three hospital experts on why judging cleanliness by sight alone must end
- Scientific Monitoring Must For Infection Prevention Why hospitals should replace subjective inspections with validated monitoring
- Hygiene: Visual Inspection is Unreliable An infection control officer on the risk of judging hospital cleanliness by sight
- WHO: SET THE BASICS RIGHT A WHO officer on why biomedical waste needs better basics, not more technology
- Are gloves, catheters, bottles and IV sets to be cut before disposing in red bag? Whether gloves, catheters and IV sets should be cut before going into the red bag
- Anandloke Multi Speciality Hospital Where Cleanliness is Clinical Care A medical director on why cleanliness is clinical care, not a support function
- Indian Railways using UVC robots for train disinfection How Northern Railway uses UV-C technology to disinfect passenger coaches
Questions readers ask
Should gloves and IV sets be cut before disposal in the red bag?
Ideally yes, to prevent misuse, unless an authorised recycler can assure there will be no reuse. The scissors and knives used for cutting must themselves be disinfected. Read the article
Is visual inspection enough to judge hospital cleanliness?
No. A senior microbiologist at Apollo Multispeciality Hospitals, Kolkata, explains why hospitals must replace subjective inspections with scientifically validated monitoring systems. Read the article
What would fix India's biomedical waste problem?
A WHO surveillance medical officer says the answer is better basics rather than more technology: every clinic following segregation norms, trained staff and strict enforcement. Read the article
Do customers care about a business's hygiene?
Research by infection control specialist JLA found that almost two-thirds of British people will boycott restaurants, bars, pubs or hotels with a poor reputation for hygiene and infection control. Read the article