Government Hospitals for NABH Accreditation

BANGALORE: After private and corporate hospitals, now government, missionary and taluka hospitals and primary health centres in the state are coming forward to apply for accreditation by the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) facilitating quality care and safety to patients.

Compared to Karnataka, other states like Gujarat, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are doing fairly well in getting accreditation for government hospitals and PHCs. Government officials in Karnataka are now talking to the Quality Council of India (QCI) for the same.

"The state government that does not have even a single NABH accredited government hospital is now keen on the accreditation of hospitals and it has also identified a hospital in Belguam for the accreditation," said Dr Thuppil Venkatesh, principal advisor, QCI.

Hospitals'Conclave

The recently held nationallevel conclave, to take the NABH to the next level and make it a source for value addition to accredited hospitals on continuous basis, witnessed the participation of the principal assessors from NABH and executive officers of the various private and corporate NABH accredited hospitals in India and government officials.

The conclave, a first in the country, was organised at the St John's Hospital.

"It was first time that the CEOs and principal assessors shared the same platforms and came out with several suggestions and these quality inputs received would be considered by the assessors," said Dr Venkatesh.

It was also decided to set up a QCI office in the premises of St John's Medical College and Hospital, for which infrastructural facilities would be provided by the St John's College and Hospital.

Dr Gridhar J Gyani, secretary general, Quality Council of India, said as many as 83 hospitals have been accredited with NABH in India and now the council wants to take it to the next level.

"A talk on various subjects in weak areas like medication errors, record of adverse effect and monitoring quality indicators, operation theater guidelines and maintaining accuracy, people fitness pal in biomedical equipment were also held during the conclave," said Dr Gyani.