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NABH plans accreditation for Govt. hospitals too

Special Correspondent

The Government will step in to act only in case of malpractice

FOR GOOD HEALTH: (from right) Quality Council of India Secretary-General Giridhar Gyani, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Chairman, Nalla G. Palanisami, Coimbatore Management Association President, P.M. Jagatheesan, and Chairman of the Accreditation Committee of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Providers, Y.P. Bhatia, at the workshop on hospital accreditation in Coimbatore on Saturday. - Photo: M. Periasamy

COIMBATORE: National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) plans accreditation for Government hospitals, apart from the existing system for private healthcare providers, the Secretary-General of the Quality Council of India (QCI), Giridhar Gyani, said here on Saturday.

At a workshop on `Hospital Accreditation", he said the Union Government had been keen on evolving a set of standards of functioning for the public health sector.

"We had resisted a separate set of standards for Government hospitals. But, now we are in the process of forming a technical committee for evolving an accreditation system for these hospitals," he said.

The workshop was organised by Coimbatore Management Association and the NABH that came under the QCI. Indian Medical Association Board for Private Nursing Homes and Hospitals and Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Health and Hospital Administration were co-sponsors.

"We have already drafted standards for primary health centres and they are now a part of the National Rural Health Mission," Mr. Gyani said.

Healthcare

The country had around 15,000 hospitals. Of these a third belonged to the Government. The broad aim of the NABH (which comes under the QCI), was to raise the standards of healthcare of all providers.

Accreditation was only voluntary and not mandatory. The Government would step in to act only in case of malpractice.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in July with Australian Council for Healthcare Standards (ACHS). "ACHS has offered to help us in setting standards and share its experience in evolving these. There is a possibility of obtaining NABH or ACHS accreditation in the future. We are working on the technical aspects," he said. "NABH can also come under the International Society for Quality in Healthcare."

Medical tourism

Mr. Gyani said accreditation assumed significance in the context of medical tourism also as patients from overseas nations would check on this while availing of treatment. He, however, said out of 80,000 pathological laboratories in the country, only 60 had got accreditation so far. Efforts were on to cover the rest.

Patient safety

Mr. Gyani told presspersons that hospitals would have to work hard for patient safety. Overseas patients would look for this.

The Union Ministry of Tourism wanted a list of hospitals with accreditation while issuing medical visas to foreign patients.

The Chairman of the Accreditation Committee of NABH, Y.P. Bhatia, said so far only 16 hospitals had applied for accreditation.

Assessment

Another 24 were expected to apply soon. Assessment would be stringent, systematic and transparent.

Accreditation would not lead to rise in treatment cost as hospitals would not be graded.

The Technical Committee member of the NABH, S. Murali, said surveillance audits would be carried out as part of the accreditation process.

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