National Medical Commission calls for strict compliance of infection control guidelines to prevent HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C transmissions

National Medical Commission (NMC) has asked medical colleges to ensure full compliance to the National Guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control to prevent the avoidable transmission of blood borne infections including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C infections. NMC called for strict adherence to measures such as hand hygiene, implementation of mandatory safe injection practices using only sterile, single use needles and syringes. It wanted strict prohibition of reuse of needles and syringes under all circumstances across all facilities. All sharps and injection-related waste need to be segregated and disposed of as per Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, an NMC advisory said.

“All medical colleges may progressively adopt safety-engineered autodisable syringes. The training to healthcare workers with competency assessments should be provided periodically. Any needle-stick injury / cluster of infections should be reported for investigation. Hospital authorities must ensure post-exposure prophylaxis as per NACO guidelines and conduct regular audits by in-charges and infection control teams”, said Dr. Raghav Langer, secretary, NMC.”Strict adherence to safe injection practices is a non-negotiable patient safety mandate. Any practice which can cause serious breaches of patient safety such as reuse, vial sharing without precautions, recapping, and improper sharps disposal must have zero tolerance”, he added.

Welcoming the move, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) said despite decades of evidence and repeated warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe injection practices persist in India under the guise of “cost-saving.” This false economy has led to catastrophic consequences: avoidable infections, lifelong treatment costs, and erosion of public trust in healthcare systems, the association points out. According to AiMeD, unsafe injection practices are not a matter of affordability, but a matter of accountability. India has the capacity, technology, and cost effectiveness HTA (Health Technology Assessment) evidence. What is needed now is decisive action to protect patients and healthcare workers alike, AiMeD said. “India has the manufacturing capacity to supply safety-engineered syringes at scale. The barrier is not technology, it is willpower. Procurement administrators must prioritise patient safety over short-term cost-cutting”, says Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMeD.

The NMC advisory had also pointed out that recent data and evidence from international and national settings depict that unsafe injection practice may result in outbreaks of HIV and other blood-borne infections and such events are entirely preventable through strict adherence to standard infection prevention and control practices.