Want to keep surgery bill low? Avoid surgical-site infections, study says Premium

Investing in safe surgeries could significantly reduce the costs associated with surgeries in low-to-middle-income countries like India, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Safety measures before a surgery aren’t just to save lives – they can also significantly lower the health bill if followed in letter and spirit.

Investing in safe surgeries could significantly reduce the costs associated with surgeries in low-to-middle-income countries like India, according to a study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Mark Monahan, a lecturer of health economics at the Institute of Applied Health, University of Birmingham, led the multinational study. The findings show that surgical site infections extend hospital stays up to a month or more and worsen the financial burden on patients and their families.

A surgical site infection is a common complication in surgeries worldwide. It is an infection that occurs at the site of a surgery in the body. It could be a superficial skin infection or a deeper one, involving tissues. About 11% of patients who undergo surgery contract such infections, according to a 2018 WHO report.

Ankit Jain, a consultant of surgical oncology at Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Bhopal, said surgical site infections increase healthcare costs by prolonging hospital stay and by demanding more human and medical resources to treat these infections.

In the new study, the researchers investigated resource costs for patients who underwent abdominal surgeries across 13 hospitals in four countries – India, Mexico, Nigeria, and Ghana – between April and October 2020.

The study considered a range of procedures, including caesarean sections, gastric perforation repair, hysterectomy, and umbilical hernia repair. The procedures were classified into two types: