In Germany each year about 10.000 to 15.000 people die because of nosocomial infections. With a 10-point programme the German Federal Minister of Health, Hermann Gröhe, wants to reduce this number dramatically. At the top of the priority list is the mandatory reporting of nosocomial infections. The ÖGKH (Austrian Society for Hospital Hygiene) welcomes the German initiative.
In the fight against nosocomial infections, the German Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU) has presented a 10-point plan on March 23, 2015. The new reporting requirements should be agreed in the Federal Council before summer break.
So many dead people in a medically advanced country – that should not be, says Gröhe.
The plan includes actions at all levels: hygiene standards, training, development of new antibiotics, diagnostic testing methods, alternative treatments.
Core element of the 10-point plan: Each proven pathogen must be reported in the future (point 4):
“We support and advocate the initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Health,” says Univ.-Prof. Ojan Assadian, President of the Austrian Society for Hospital Hygiene (ÖGKH). As in Germany, it also comes in Austria every year to infections, which are directly or indirectly related to treatments in health care facilities. Exact numbers of affected people in Austria cannot be named because hospital infections are not subject to reporting. “To my knowledge, it is neither planned nor prepared to adopt a general reporting of nosocomial infections as an addition to the law. The interesting question is not only whether nosocomial infections have to be reported, but especially what to do with these messages: Who collects, who prepares data, how analysed data must be communicated? Anyhow, the ÖGKH actively promotes a supporting obligation for nosocomial infections”, says Assadian.
