Every year 40,000 deaths from hospital infections

40,000 deaths from hospital infections every year

03/01/2014

Every year around 40,000 people in Germany die from hospital infections. Many deaths could be avoided. An expert now calls for better staff training and tighter controls by the authorities.

Half of the hospital infections could be avoided
According to the German Society for Hospital Hygiene (DGKH), around one million germ patients are infected with germs every year in German hospitals. Every year, about 40,000 people die as a result of poor hygiene in clinics, as DGKH Board Klaus-Dieter Zastrow said the West German newspaper (WAZ) on Thursday. Even modern surgical methods, which often require only minor interventions in comparison to the past, or better ventilation systems could not have changed these figures for decades, according to the expert from the Südwest Presse (SWP). According to the experts, half of all hospital infections would be avoidable. According to Zastrow, hygiene is still neglected in many hospitals. It often applies the principle: „You collect money but do not do any hygiene.“

The topic is kept small by politics
The tightened in 2011 infection control law indeed contains „strict rules to be monitored by the country“, but the hospital operators are of the stricter regulations „not amused.“ In addition, the topic is kept small by the policy, „to save money“, Zastrow criticized. He also believes that the staff in the clinics should be better trained and the controls by the offices should be significantly tightened. Zastrow even called in the WAZ to make hospitals with high infection rates on the Internet public. On the hygiene violations he said: „If the hospital manager knows that his chief surgeon does not care about hygiene, he has to fire him.“

Data beautified and long overhauled
The National Reference Center (NRZ) for surveillance of hospital infections only estimates the number of people infected annually at between 400,000 and 600,000 and estimates the number of deaths „just“ 10,000 to 15,000. As Zastrow the WAZ said, these are data „in the spirit of the hospital lobby beautified and long outdated.“ A spokesman for the German Hospital Association told the SWP on this accusation: „The topic is too serious to act as a scaremonger.“

Different analyzes
In his figures Zastrow refers to an analysis of the DGKH from the year 2013, in the data compared to hospital infections from home and abroad and conclusions were drawn from it for Germany. On the other hand, those responsible at the NRZ emphasized the respectability of their numbers to the SWP and named the analysis of the DGKH „faulty“. (Ad)

Image: Sebastian Karkus