Hospitals to get disaster mgmt training

After the recent, horrific hospital fire at AMRI, Kolkata, NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers) is set to hold day-long training across the country on disaster management in hospitals. It has also decided to speed up its process to give accreditation to hospitals.

The NABH is an offshoot of the Quality Control of India (QCI), set up by the Government of India. Dr Giridhar Gyani, general secretary, QCI said, “In case of emergency, the hospital staff should be well trained to evacuate patients in less time.

Before giving accreditation, we check on all possible regulatory clearance from respective government departments and fire safety NOC is one of them. AMRI too was NABH-accredited but the accreditation lapsed on September 2011 after they failed to meet few requirements.” Dr Gyani was at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital to discuss how to improve quality health care.

The NABH’s day long program in hospitals will begin from next month and will emphasise on disaster management in hospital in situations like earthquake, fire, terror attack etc.

Soon after the fire at AMRI hospital, Association of hospitals (AOH) had a meeting in which they emphasised the need to have NABH accreditation. “A NABH accreditation means the hospital is following the fire safety norms. We are not the authority to ensure they follow the norms but every year when we check before renewing the accreditation whether the hospital has followed the mock drill procedures, have all fire safety norms,” added Dr Gyani.
Presently seven hospitals in the city have NABH accreditation and fifteen hospitals are in the waiting.