Accreditation boosts image of hospitals in India, say experts

At a time when healthcare seems to be a sort of money-minting business, experts feel that hospitals in India should go for accreditation like National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare (NABH). They opined this at the 'Health and Hospital Conclave -2011' of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

NABH is a constituent board of Quality Council of India that aims at setting benchmark for progress of industry. One of the experts, Parag Rindani, emphasised that going for accreditation for hospitals calls for accountability and consistent excellence and also encourages healthcare organisation for quality healthcare measures.

Rindani was speaking at the second day of the CII conclave during the discussion on 'Changing Face of Indian Healthcare: The Game Changers'.

Dr Vasundhara Atre, a specialist in anaesthesiology from Mumbai, said that the main challenges faced in the healthcare sector in India are reducing maternal and child deaths, malnutrition-related problems, and infectious diseases. "Only seven countries in the world spend less money than India on public health. About  70% of India lives in more than 600,000 villages across rural India, and not more than an estimated 30% have access to modern medicine. India needs more than one lakh doctors per year, but we produce 30,000.

The presentation on 'Preparing for NABH / NABL - Doing it the Right Way' highlighted the fact that any hospital should go for the certification not because it just wants the same, but as it is required legally.