Karnataka: Global Hand Washing Day celebrated

Mangalore: The medical staff of Kasturba Medical College and Hospital and three other professional healthcare institutions are coming together on the occasion of 'Global Hand Washing Day' on October 15, in an effort to create a Guinness World record through a hand sanitation relay effort. The exercise is an attempt to simultaneously generate an awareness about implementation of infection control measures and lessen the burden of antimicrobial resistance. The event will be hosted at the Marena Sports complex.The 2016 Global Hand Washing Day theme is “Make Hand Washing a Habit!”

The hand washing event is also meant to give publicity to the efforts being made by the Kasturba Hospital along with the Manipal University in generating hygiene awareness among Indians. The four other participating medical institutions include: School of Allied Health Sciences, Manipal College of Nursing, and Manipal College of Dental Sciences, affiliated to the Manipal University,

The 2016 'endeavour' will exhibit 4000 individual participants perform the 6-step procedure and on completion, pass the alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the next participant and exit the venue. The entire act will be monitored by authorised officials from Guinness Book of World Records acting as witnesses of using stopwatches. The event will be video graphed with the participant's number tags visible.

This event is meant to set a new world record, with a large number of people washing their hands with sanitizers in the scientific six step method, in a continuous relay mode, a university communiqué here states.