Ukraine does not have a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) monitoring system or experience in monitoring and informing medical workers on the level of HAI in the country, meaning the majority of medical workers do not understand the HAI problem, Scientific Affairs and Education Leader in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at 3M Health Care Przemyslaw Lenartowicz has said.

"There is tight correlation between hospital-acquired infections and life span. There is no data on HAI level in Ukraine, there is no HAI monitoring system. The major part of medical workers do not understand the HAI problem. Nurses and doctors do not understand in full what they can do to change the situation," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Commenting on the differences between the standards of infection prevention in Europe and Ukraine, Lenartowicz said that European standards include documentation maintenance methods, which cuts the number of patient deaths and hospital expenses, and improves the quality of medical services.

"Modern requirements and recommendations prepared by various professional and scientific societies are based on evidence-based medicine. All principles are based on clinical studies. Guidelines are updated once in several years when new substantial evidences appear. At present, one of the newest and recognized all over the world are the epic3: National Evidence-Based Guidelines for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections in NHS Hospitals in England. These guidelines are not used in Ukraine and the existing infection prevention guidelines are not updated," he said.

Lenartowicz said that HAI monitoring is part of clinical practice in many countries.

He said that preventing infections is impossible without monitoring, and most hospitals in Europe use the procedure and treatment monitoring systems.

Lenartowicz said that Ukrainian doctors and nurses tend to think that HAI was present, is present, and it will be present in the future, meaning they are not trying to prevent it.

He said that the difference between countries in fighting the spread of infections is the various etiologies they use.

Lenartowicz added that Ukrainian Health Ministry and/or professional societies should use European guidelines.

3M is one of the biggest innovation companies in the world with an annual turnover of $30.8 billion. Every year the company invests around $1.5 billion in research and design. 3M produces over 50,000 items which are sold in almost 200 countries.