‘There should be rating for hospitals’

Quality in healthcare is of paramount importance as it directly impacts human lives, said Dr Giridhar J Gyani, secretary general, Quality Council of India (QCI), on Saturday.

Gyani, also the CEO of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), said quality in healthcare relates to a hospital monitoring and measuring clinical outcome on a continuous basis.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the first National Quality Conclave in Healthcare organised at MS Ramaiah Medical College.    

This is the first such conclave in healthcare, organised by QCI, India’s apex accreditation and quality-promotion body.
The theme for the first conclave is ‘Enhancing Quality in Healthcare: Dimensions and Directions’.

Dr Gyani, said the NABH has succeeded in creating framework for quality governance of hospitals. He said all stake holders, be it industry, government or consumers, have accepted NABH accreditation as way forward to build quality in healthcare. The accreditation programme by NABH covers all the facets of patient safety.

Dr Gyani added that NABH accreditation focuses entirely on creating quality culture, leading to patient safety.

“Consumers need to be made aware on what accreditation is all about. Once this happens, consumers directly will begin demanding accreditation from hospitals,” he said.

Some of the issues discussed at the conclave were accreditation in health sector—need and scenario, patient safety and medication error, quality concept in nursing care, concept of quality in healthcare, patient safety and modern approaches relating to quality in healthcare.