Infection Prevention Professionals of Pune

About HISI – Pune Chapter

The HISI Pune Chapter brings together infection prevention and control professionals across Maharashtra region. Established as one of HISI’s earliest regional chapters, it serves as a platform for knowledge exchange, continuing medical education, and collaborative efforts to strengthen infection control practices in healthcare institutions across the region.

The HIS Pune Forum traces its origins to October 1998, when Dr Nita Munshi began monthly meetings at Inlaks & Budhrani Hospital, bringing together microbiologists, medical administrators, nursing directors, and surgeons at a time when Infection Control Nurses were not yet the norm in Indian hospitals. The forum was formally established in October 2001 by Dr Nita Munshi, Dr Anju Kagal, Dr Uday Kelkar, Dr Vikram Padbidri, Dr Lokare, and Dr Sanjeev Gupta, beginning with 110 enrolled members.

Its first CME, on surgical site infections, was held in 2003 at Arora Towers and drew 200 participants. The chapter also played an active role in public health policy, working with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Biomedical Waste Management Committee to help formulate BMW disposal guidelines and protocols for the city. From 2006, as Infection Control Nurses became established across most major hospitals, meetings shifted to Ruby Hall Clinic and grew more regular, with members conducting collaborative studies on the prevalence and antibiotic sensitivity of catheter-associated UTIs and ventilator-associated pneumonia.

The Forum organised a national HIS conference in January 2009 at Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, attended by 450 delegates, and published a Hospital Infection Control manual covering surveillance protocols, worksheets, and disinfection-sterilisation guidelines in 2011. In 2013, it conducted a workshop on surveillance of quality indicators at KEM Hospital, Mumbai, and in 2015 joined the HIS Mumbai Forum for a one-day protocol-sharing meeting in Lonavala. The most recent pre-pandemic conference, held in September 2019 at the Grand Sheraton in partnership with Ruby Hall Clinic, attracted over 400 delegates.