Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Stress on standardisation of hospitals

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: A workshop on "Hospital Accreditation" here on Saturday stressed the need for regulation of the healthcare providers in the form of assessment and accreditation that would lend credibility to their institutions.

The workshop was organised by the Coimbatore Management Association (CMA) and the NABH that came under the Quality Council of India. The Indian Medical Association Board for Private Nursing Homes and Hospitals and the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) Health and Hospital Administration were co-sponsors.

Presiding over the inaugural of the workshop, the Chairman of the KMCH, Nalla G. Palanisami, said there was a long-felt need for quality standards in hospitals in the country and some kind of regulation was taking shape.

Tough task

Standardisation was a tough task as it involved bringing healthcare providers from clinics and nursing homes to big hospitals under the accreditation system. The objective was to raise the quality of treatment and hospital functioning to the standards in developed countries. "We have a problem of contrast; a problem of haves and have-nots," Dr. Palanisami said by pointing out that while super-speciality hospitals were available in the country, many died of diarrhoea because they did not have access to even oral d<149>r<149>ehydration<149> fluids.

The President of the CMA, P.M. Jagatheesan, accreditation was vital to ensure quality service when patients looked for value for money and huge investments were made in the healthcare sector.

The Convenor of the Healthcare Panel of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Coimbatore Chapter, K.S. Ramalingam, said accreditation should be seen as a mark of a good system in a hospital.

The State President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), A. Muruganathan, said the IMA Board for Private Nursing Home and Hospitals had introduced a system of self-regulation for more than 2,000 hospitals in Tamil Nadu.

The Vice-President of CMA and Senior Vice-President of KMCH, U.K. Ananthapadmanabhan, said accreditation was not a marketing tool but a path to improved healthcare. He hoped 30 to 40 hospitals in Coimbatore might go in for accreditation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

NABH plans accreditation for Govt. hospitals too
Highways department to upgrade more state roads
Stress on standardisation of hospitals
Silver Jubilee reunion for PSG Tech 1981 alumni
`Teachers should be IT literate'
Nominated permanent observer on inter-basin task force
Around the City

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu