Project Parivartan to reduce hospital acquired infections: Health min

Panaji: A four-year project named Project Parivartan, aiming to reduce hospital-acquired infections and curb antimicrobial resistance, is being implemented in all 41 public health facilities, health minister Vishwajit Rane said on Wednesday.

He held a detailed review meeting with representatives of Pfizer India, Americares India Foundation, the GMC dean, the director of DHS, and other senior representatives to assess the progress of the project.

The strategically designed intervention to address the growing threat of AMR and hospital-acquired infections is being implemented by GMC and the directorate of health services in partnership with Americares India Foundation and supported by Pfizer’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

“Project Parivartan will help drive safer healthcare practices, improving patient outcomes and public health,” Rane said. The project was launched on Nov 27 last year, and a team of 19 professionals were trained. Stakeholder engagement meetings were held with officials from GMC, DHS, and the hospital infection prevention and control committee at GMC.

Ethical approvals were granted by the state ethical committee and the institutional ethical committee of GMC. Baseline assessments were initiated in health facilities under the directorate of health services and are expected to be undertaken in GMC soon.

Project Parivartan is constructing a robust statewide framework for antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention control, with its core mission to reduce hospital-acquired infections and ensure the responsible and judicious use of antibiotics within Goa’s healthcare system.

It is also conducting baseline assessments to understand the current AMR situation in Goa and establishing surveillance tools to monitor trends in antibiotic resistance.

Under the project, specialised training programmes are being delivered for healthcare professionals on AMS and IPC. The project is also looking at enhancing the capacity of medical teams to create a safer healthcare environment and promote rational antibiotic prescribing.

The WHO recognised AMR as one of the top global public health and development threats. The Union govt implemented measures to curb AMR, establishing a national task force in 2010 and developing a national policy on AMR containment in 2011, followed by a national action plan on AMR (2017-2021). State govt has aligned both with India’s national action plan and WHO’s global AMR containment strategy through Project Parivartan, Rane said.