( dpa ) - Half of the doctors at Singapore's foremost hospital don't wash their hands between patients, a published report said on Friday.
The numbers at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) revealed by an internal audit are an improvement over a year ago when only 20 per cent of the physicians cleaned up between patients, The Straits Times said.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he will press hospitals to clean up their act.
"I'm going to force the collection of data, infection rate of hospitals and publish them," The Straits Times quoted Khaw as saying. "Without publishing, we think they are clean and assume they are washing their hands."
A campaign was launched last year to push hand washing among the 5,000 staff members at SGH in addition to patients and visitors.
The move is part of the drive to reduce the spread of infections such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcusaureus, an organism that is resistant to common antibiotics.
The bacterium is found in hospitals in Singapore and elsewhere.