KARACHI, Sept 20: Standards for clinics of general practitioners are yet to be chalked out and these should be formulated as soon as possible.

This was stated by Dr Aziz Khan Tank at a seminar on “Hygiene for Life”, organized by the Pakistan Medical Association on Saturday evening.

Dr Khan said that every clinic should have toilets for doctors, staff and patients. There should be proper arrangement for cutting needles at the clinic, he said.

Moreover, he said that furniture, utensils and equipment at clinics should be cleaned periodically and regularly to ward off outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Highlighting the effects of oil spill on marine life, Dr Ejaz Ahmed of the Worldwide Fund for Nature said that people must ensure before consuming fish that they were not contaminated with the crude oil spilled from the ill-fated vessel Tasman Spirit.

He said that the fish caught in deep seas were largely free of contamination. “So are the fish caught along the coast of Balochistan,” he added.

However, Dr Ejaz said that the fish caught in the part of the sea facing the Seaview Township and Manora was contaminated. The fishermen, whose livelihood was dependent on selling the fish caught in this part of the sea, had been affected badly by the oil spill.

“Their survival is at stake because they have largely been stopped from fishing,” he added.

Speaking at the seminar, Dr Habib-ur-Rahman Soomro said if winds changed direction the people of Manora might face the same ailments that had been encountered earlier by the residents of Seaview Township and Clifton.

He said that studies should be undertaken to determine whether the hydrocarbons contained in the oil became carcinogenic following the decomposition.

Dr Edita Dvoncova stated that a series of research projects had been undertaken to study the effects of the regular use of antimicrobial soaps on the skin flora.

“These studies have shown that the regular use of these products is not harmful to skin flora. In fact, a positive effect of these soaps has been observed.”

Dwelling on the issue of hospital-acquired infections, Dr Farheen Ali said that infection control programmes actually cut the total cost incurred on health care. However, lack of financial resources and education, both among the public and professionals, posed tough challenges in this regard, she said.

An infection surveillance programme at the Aga Khan University Hospital had brought about a drastic reduction in the rates of hospital acquired infections, she said.

Dr Ali said that the role of nurses was critical for the success of an infection control programme.

Dr Haseeb Alam and Dr Serajuddaula Syed also spoke on the occasion. Dr Shershah Syed conducted the proceedings of the seminar.