There has been a tenfold increase in the number of patients who have succumbed to the superbug during the course of the last eight years. During the year 2004 alone, the Clostridium difficile claimed as many as 98 lives in Scotland alone, when compared to the 1997 figure of 10 causalities. The stomach bug is a purely a hospital-acquired killer.
The opposition party in the UK has insisted that the matter be probed thoroughly. Andy Kerr, UK’s Health Minister however has claimed that the bug is being named in the case of more deaths due to greater awareness of the infection. Professor Hugh Pennington, an expert on the bug is of the opinion that the bug related infections are already out of control.Scotland is already in the process of increasing the number of health workers by 2.8%, and the numbers are almost at 154,000, as of early 2006, according to the statistical figures of the NHS. This is a part of the plan of the Executive’s object of strengthening the frontline services where healthcare is concerned. The total number of administrative staff in Scotland has also been raised in accordance to this.
