PESHAWAR, Aug 24: Lack of resources and heavy workload have become main causes of deadly infections in hospital workers, doctors and other health staff revealed to Dawn here on Saturday.

“One year back a laboratory technician Sherzada was diagnosed to have been infected with hepatitis C at Khyber Teaching Hospital. Similarly, an assistant professor at the ENT ward of the same hospital got infected with the same disease two years back,” a doctor said. According to him, the number of infected health workers, doctors and nurses was much more as they refuse to disclose fearing that it would create scare among other patients and their relatives.

Inadequate supply of disinfectants and non-availability of surgical gloves and masks to the government-owned hospitals have put the laboratory and blood bank technicians and operation theatre staff on constant hazard. They are the most vulnerable people because they deal with all sorts of patients without taking precautionary measures. Even a surgeon and a technician at the Lady Reading Hospital were diagnosed as HCV positive a few months back. A technician Wali Jan also got the deadly infection at LRH an year ago. Health workers and doctors with hepatitis B are countless, which is curable.

There are numerous examples at the city hospitals where the health workers and doctors have been infected with hepatitis B and C. The former being curable but latter has no cure so far. The problem is aggravated by the fact the hospitals were not providing vaccines to employees who come across the infected patients daily.

According to a pathologist at the LRH, the technicians have no protection. They process 300 to 400 blood and urine samples. Each technician has to process more than 50 samples. They do not wear gloves or masks which is necessary for them, but the hospitals do not provide them in required number.

A technician at a city hospital told this correspondent that they received blood samples from the wards in syringes instead of capped bottles which enhanced the chances of being pricked with the needle. He said there was no proper mechanism of disposing hospital waste and the sweepers concerned throw the blood and urine samples in water shanks.

A surgeon Dr Tariq Jabbar deplored that a sweeper working at the casualty department of the KTH had pricked with a needle and got infected with hepatitis C. He said some of the hospital employees got infected even with the killer decease of Aids but due to social stigmas, they refused to disclose.

Another doctor told Dawn that the use of the unsterilised instruments in emergency departments of the city hospitals and Khyber College of Dentistry was also a main source of inflicting disease not only to the patients but also to the health workers. The boilers which are traditionally used for sterilisation of the instruments remain out of order for most of the time let alone provision of masks and surgical gloves.