AP emerging as quality healthcare centre: Poonam

♦ NABH judges various parameters to provide accreditation to hospitals like access, assessment and continuity of care, care of patients, management of medication, patient rights and education, hospital infection control, continuous quality improvement, responsibility of management, facility management and safety, human resource management and information management system

Amaravati: AP is going to emerge as the only State to have all accredited teaching hospitals in the country.

Out of the 15 teaching hospitals in the State, 8 are in final stage and remaining 7 are in pre-final stage in getting accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH).

NABH is a constituent board of Quality Council of India (QCI), set up to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations.

"Very soon, all our government teaching hospitals are going to get the accreditation," informed Poonam Malakondaiah, Special Chief Secretary, Medical and Health department, in an exclusive interview to The Hans India.

To get the accreditation, the teaching hospitals must reach the NABH standards.

They include access, assessment and continuity of care, care of patients, management of medication, patient rights and education, hospital infection control, continuous quality improvement, responsibility of management, facility management and safety, human resource management and information management system.

Many of the big hospitals like KGH, GGH Guntur, GGH Vijayawada, Ongole Hospital, Ruia in Tirupati, the major hospitals at Srikakulam, Anantapur, Kurnool, Mental Care hospital at Vizag, Chest Hospital at Vizag and others are going to get accreditation, the mark for quality health services in the country, very soon, she hoped.

In addition to that, all the district hospitals are also getting certification for services being offered there.

Even the Area Hospitals, Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres also secured certification from the Central government, on par with the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS).

For other than teaching hospitals, the public health facilities have been assessed by the NHSRC and certified by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI.

The MoHFW has already certified 11 District Hospitals, 14 Area Hospitals, 2 Mother and Child hospitals, 3 CHCs and 4 PHCs.

A total of 34 hospitals including DHs, AHs, CHCs and PHCs have been certified by the MoHFW so far. For the year 2019-20, the department has applied for certification for 65 CHCs and 130 PHCs.

Poonam said that the NQAS is the set of standards envisaged to improve quality health care delivery in public health facilities under NHM.

These facilities are subjected to baseline assessment, gap analysis with time bound action plan, regulatory statutory compliance records, calibration of equipment, patient satisfaction survey, employer satisfaction survey, key performance indicators on productivity, efficiency, clinical care and service quality.