Common Health Hazards in Healthcare Facilities & Impact on Healthcare Workers/Professionals/Patients – Remedial Measures – An Analysis

Abstract

Globally in any healthcare facility there are numerous healthcare hazards such as Infectious diseases, Occupational diseases are common and affecting not only healthcare workers, professionals and such other healthcare workforce attending patients but also patients and their accomplice. While providing healthcare services i.e. preventive, curative and rehabilitative to the patients who visit the healthcare facilities for their ailments / discomfort in some unavailable circumstances the healthcare personnel (healthcare workforce, professionals etc) face healthcare hazards. Unlike other service oriented organizations where one can choose any service that the consumer wants on their own but where as in healthcare it is case specific and the customer namely the patient has to go to a specific place (healthcare facility) and to a specific professional who is capable of extending that particular service needed by the patient. Hence, the healthcare providers and the healthcare professionals should be very careful in handling / treating the needy patients and at the same time to protect themselves from the healthcare hazards and the communicable diseases that are common in any healthcare facility. Though much development took place in medical science/medical technology, procedures and the present system of medical modern technology has made healthcare very complex with many hazards. The main healthcare hazards that are common in any healthcare facility are Biological hazards (viruses, bacteria and parasites), Chemical hazards (disinfectants, drugs and diagnostics), Physical hazards, Ergonomic hazards, Occupational hazards, Occupational exposure to Vancomycin, BRSA Infections, Radiation effect, Violence, Exposure to reproductive health hazard, Stress disorders etc. In this article an attempt is made to discuss about various healthcare hazards that are commonly prevalent in the healthcare facilities in addition to occupational diseases and infectious diseases causing innumerable damage and hardship not only to the workforce and professionals and to the patients in form of other but mainly though transmission and improperly used equipment and maintaining the healthcare facilities in improper environment. Due to increased work load because of human immune deficiency virus, hardships of increased. Also the preventive measures and necessary infrastructure to combat such hazards and infectious diseases, as per the guidelines of the World Health Organization the steps that are to be taken in this regard by the healthcare facility providers are also discussed threadbare. The Constitution of India though does not expressly guarantee a fundamental right to health, there are multiple references in the Constitution to the public health and the role of the stake, the provision of healthcare to others. In India this right which is a natural corollary to promoting public health is protected under the Constitution of India in multiple ways.