A total of 100 Health Care Workers (HCW) including MBBS students, interns, Resident doctors and staff nurses were interviewed with a detailed questionnaire about the awareness of Hospital Infection Control (HIC) practices. Each category comprised 25 randomly selected individuals.

Of these 100 HCWs, 55% had attended HIC / HIV-AIDS training programme. 64% of HCWs had received complete vaccination against Hepatitis B and 13% were undergoing it. The number of HCWs not vaccinated for Hepatitis B was 23%, of which 14% had not undergone HIC training.

Amongst the HCWs, who have attended the HIC training programme, 60-75% were aware about the use of gloves, apron and other personal protective devices (mask/ eye shield) for its prevention. 52% of HCWs were aware of proper hand washing practices and its importance in hospital infection control. 40-50% of HCWs, who had undergone training, had knowledge about the care of spillage and the use of Sodium hypochlorite in adequate concentration for its good efficacy. Also, the awareness about the availability of Post Exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and immediate measures to be taken following needle stick injury was 40-52% in this group.

The knowledge about Bio Medical Waste disposal practices, including segregation of waste at the point of generation and colour-coding of bags was 41% and 38% respectively as compared to 34% and 26% respectively who did not attend the HIC training. Use of needle cutter and proper method for disposal of sharps was observed by 67% of HCWs.

Thus the survey conducted implies that training in hospital infection control practices and HIV-AIDS should be regularly carried out for all categories of HCWs to minimize risk of Hospital Associated Infection to patients as well as to the HCWs.