The entire hospital has been computerized since 2004. The HIS was developed by the CDAC, Noida. All the patient information and reports are now online, improving professional access and greatly reducing the paper-based record keeping.
A letter distributed throughout Kasturba Hospital declared:
Manipal, Guinness World Records confirmed a place in history for Kasturba Hospital, a unit of Manipal University, Manipal when it recognized the Hand Sanitization Relay held on the occasion of Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2016, as a world record. Kasturba Hospital achieved the distinction by improving upon the earlier record of 1711 held by Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, with a count of 3422.
The event itself witnessed a marathon exercise by the hospital personnel assisted by the health sciences institutions of Manipal University and others from the neighbouring district of Mangaluru. It began at 7 am and ended around midnight. Over 5,000 faculty, students and staff had registered to take part, but when the event closed after 3422 persons had completed the task of washing hands. And Guinness has accepted the same number for the record.
The certificate from Guinness Book of World Records was received last week. It was officially handed over to Dr M Dayananda Medical Superintendent and COO Kasturba Hospital Manipal by the Pro Chancellor, Manipal University Dr H.S. Ballal in the Board Room at Manipal University building on Friday. Dr H Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor Manipal University and Dr Narayana Sabhahit, Registrar were present.
Elaborate arrangements were made at Marena, on the jogging track and was closely monitored by external judges. There were 75 stewards, 9 witnesse,s and 8 timekeepers who ensured smooth conduct of the program. On completion of the handwashing relay, the details were sent to the Guinness Book of World Records at London. Following the evaluation by the technical team, Guinness Book of World Records declared Kasturba Hospital, a unit of Manipal University, as the official recordholder.
Dr H. S. Ballal, Pro Chancellor of Manipal University, said, “We celebrated the Global Handwashing Day as a social initiative to spread the message of hygiene of our hands and to encourage doctors and all other healthcare professionals to make handwashing a regular habit, thus preventing the nosocomial infections”
Dr H. Vinod Bhat, Vice Chancellor of Manipal University, said, “Proper hand sanitizing plays a key role in controlling the spread of communicable diseases”. We should practice this in our daily lives to prevent the communicable diseases,” he added.
Dr M. Dayananda congratulated and thanked the doctors, nursing staff, and administrative team of Kasturba Medical College and Hospital Manipal and all health science institutions that took part. Kasturba Medical College, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Melaka Manipal Medical College - Manipal Campus, School of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal College of Nursing, Kasturba Medical College and Hospital Mangalore, and Manipal College of Pharmacy participated. He also expressed his gratitude to:
*Father Muller’s Medical College Mangalore.
*AJ Hospital and Research Centre Mangalore and NITTE Usha Institute of Nursing Sciences under the NITTE University for sending their representatives to act as referees in the event.
*Dr Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Department of Microbiology, and Chairman, Hospital Infection control.
KH said, “The record and honor notwithstanding, the effort also is part of the values and principles of Manipal University and Kasturba Hospital where care for patients is considered the most important and we take every step to better human life”.
