The New Indian Express | Chennai, Published: 11th March 2016 04:15 AM
CHENNAI: If everything goes as planned, Chennai’s Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital will be the first government medical college hospital in the State to be awarded a National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers(NABH) certification.
The NABH, which is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI), is doing a pre-accreditation entry-level award assessment in the hospital. The assessment would go for next three to six months till the required specific conditions, highlighted as lacking, were implemented satisfactorily.
Access to the hospital, various factors such as assessment and continuity of care, care of patients, management of medication, patient rights and education and hospital infection control, continuous quality improvement, facility management and safety will be considered during the assessment.
“We are now improving on cleanliness in the hospital and also training staff nurses in infection control and other safety managements. We are at the preparatory level for the accreditation, and it will take three to six months to finish this self-assessment process,” Dr Isaac Christian Moses, Dean of the hospital, told Express.
First set of staff nurses are being trained in infection control and equipment maintenance in the hospital at all times to meet emergency. They are also being trained in maintenance of patient records and biomedical waste management, hospital authorities said. “We are correcting lapses, if any,” a member from the NABH said, adding that the process was still in the nascent stage.
“The process is tough. The hospital should meet the standards set by the QCI, which corresponds to that of corporate hospitals. Only then, the entry level pre-accreditation will be awarded,” the member added.
The process for the full final accreditation would commence after that, which will take another year to prepare.
During the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project(TNHSP) programme, 17 government hospitals were promoted for NABH accreditation, some of them awarded full accreditation and some entry level. Now, private health insurance companies are promoted for NABH accreditation, said an official.
Top STamp on two More
Now only two government hospitals, district government headquarters hospital in Namakkal and government headquarters hospital, Padmanadapuram, are listed as NABH-accredited hospitals in the NABH website. Government hospital in Rasipuram, Namakkal and government district headquarters hospitals, Periakulam have been listed as provided pre-entry- level accreditation by the NABH recently. So far only private hospitals were NABH-certified.
