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Udupi : These Hands are made for washing! Kasturba Medical College and Hospital to set World record on Global Hand Washing Day on 15^th October, 2016. Manipal University and Manipal Kasturba Medical College and Hospital for the first time came up with an initiative to bring awareness about Hand washing and to create a Guinness World record.

The event was inaugurated by Dr. H. S. Ballal Pro-Chancellor of Manipal University at Mareena Sports Complex, Around 24,000 people comprising the doctors, nursing staff of Kasturba Medical College and Hospital Manipal, and professional health care institutions comprising of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences and Manipal College of Nursing, under Manipal University would turn to Marena Sports Complex on 15^th October 2016 in their efforts in creating a World Record in Hand Sanitation relay effort on the occasion of Global Hand Washing Day. 

The first Global Hand washing Day was held in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries.

 Since 2008, community and national leaders have used Global Hand washing Day to spread the word about handwashing, build sinks and tippy taps, and demonstrate the simplicity and value of clean hands. The 2016 Global Handwashing Day theme is “Make Handwashing a Habit!”

 Speaking to media persons Dr. (Col) M Dayananda Medical Superintendent and CEO said that each participant has to individually perform the six step procedure and on completion pass the alcohol based hand sanitizer to the next participant and exist the venue. Each participant may take between 10-12 seconds to perform the six step procedure. This will witnesses who time each participant’s performance using a stop watch. The Hand Sanitation relay effort will be video graphed with number tags of the participating staff visible. The each reports will be then sent to the Guinness World Record Authorities for confirming the record status.

Hand Hygiene (HH) action is performed by the individual participants in a relay fashion, one at a time in Mareena Sports Complex before authorized officials from Guinness Book of World Records as witnesses. A total of 4000 participants would  part in the Hand Wash Relay, which is a new world record for having a large number of people washing their hands with sanitizers in the scientific six step method in a continuous relay mode.

Each participant had to individually perform the 6-step procedure and on completion pass the alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the next participant and exit the venue. This was performed before the official witnesses who timed each participant’s performance using a stopwatch. The Hand Sanitation relay effort was video-graphed with the number plates of the staff visible.

The purpose of celebrating the Global Hand washing Day was to spread the message of Hygiene and encourage everyone to make hand washing a habit. This also focuses the efforts of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal in implementing the infection control measures in place. Proper hand sanitization plays a key role in controlling the spread of communicable diseases. This also lessens the burden of antimicrobial resistance. 

The event started at 7 am and closed at 11 pm. Not only Manipal University participants but also from Mangalore Fr. Muller’s, A.J. Hospital and other clinics staff and students will participate in the grand event.