Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

16 hospitals to be upgraded to national standards

Quality concerns: Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy with Quality Council of India Secretary-General Giridhar J. Gyani and Principal Secretary (Health) Vishwas Mehta after the signing of an agreement between the State Family Welfare Society and the QCI for upgrading 16 hospitals in the State, in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government proposes to upgrade the Sree Avittom Tirunal (SAT) Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, the medical college in Thrissur and 14 other government hospitals to national standards.

The standards of 350 laboratories attached to government hospitals will also be improved.

Accreditation of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care will be obtained in a year for the selected hospitals and laboratories.

The public sector institution, Quality Council of India (QCI) and the State Family Welfare Society signed two memoranda of understanding on consultancy services for equipping the hospitals here on Saturday.

They will prepare the hospitals to achieve the quality levels required for the accreditation.

Secretary General of QCI Giridhar J. Gyani and State Health Mission Director Dinesh Arora signed the MoU in the presence of Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy and Principal Secretary (Health) Vishwas Mehta.

The Health Minister said that ten parameters, including effectiveness of treatment, infection control and information management, would be assessed to determine the quality of the health care system.

The Health Department would streamline processes, methods, procedures and services at the hospitals, besides providing new equipment. Training would be given to laboratory technicians and paramedical staff.

Ms. Sreemathy said that the health information system project taken up in Thiruvananthapuram district under the auspices of Oslo University would be extended to other districts.

The Health Information System Project India would continue to provide technical assistance for the programme. An open source software would be used for storing information about patients, immunisation programmes and statistics on contagious diseases, so that reports and data would be available online at the district and State levels.

The Principal Secretary (Health) said that public health standards had been achieved in 115 community health centres in the State by providing necessary infrastructure and staff.

Mr. Gyani said that the accreditation, once granted, would be for three years. There would be midterm surveillance of the institutions which had been granted accreditation, besides surveillance based on complaints.

Replying to a question, the Secretary General said that he would examine how a private hospital in the State which was accused in police cases related to kidney transplantation came to be given the accreditation.

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