3M shares global knowledge and expertise for safer hospitals

Saturday, 29 September 2012 02:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

3M Sri Lanka, in collaboration with 3M India hosted a three day Key Opinion Leader (KOL) healthcare session recently under the themes of ‘Developments in Infection prevention and sterilisation in hospitals’, re-enforcing 3M’s commitment to bring in global knowledge and best practices through international industry experts, with the aim of reducing the burden of hospital acquired infections.

The event witnessed over a hundred key opinion leaders in the healthcare industry from India and Sri Lanka and many stakeholders participating in the sessions. Dr. Cem Yurttas (Ph.D.) Manager, International Scientific Affairs and Education and Dr. Norman Lu – Regional Clinical Consultant, AAPC Infection Prevention Division at 3M were present to conduct sessions pertaining to hospital acquired infections and creating awareness about hospital sterilisation standards to lower the incidence of hospital acquired infections (HAI).

Commenting in this regard, Dr. Cem Yurttas highlighted the fact that infectious diseases have resulted in the highest cause of death in human history. “We can address this issue by taking preventive measures through the development of instruments free of microbes. Implementing a proper process with regard to cleaning, sterilising and packaging of critical medical devices will also mitigate risks to patients and the impact on hospitals in terms of reputation and costs”.

“According to the World Health Organization (WHO) millions of patients around the world are affected by hospital acquired infections, which has a bearing on patients’ medical conditions,” elaborates 3M Sri Lanka Health Care Business Manager Sanjaya Rekawa. Hospital acquired infections can lead to prolonged hospital stays, unnecessary long-term disabilities, and risk of higher resistance to life-saving medications, additional cost for the patients and their families and even death. “At 3M Healthcare, we aim to work with the relevant authorities to implement a comprehensive sterilisation guideline for local hospitals,” further notes Rekawa.

3M Sri Lanka is an innovation-based company which boasts a catalog of over 1,000 products sold in Sri Lanka that span 25 different business categories. 3M has an income internationally of $30 billion in sales, employs about 84,000 people worldwide, and has operations in more than 65 countries with products sold in nearly 200 countries. The local contingent works with over 30 channel distributors as their ‘partners in innovation’.