The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) has recently published the third edition of standards for hospitals to comply with if they are going for accreditation.
These standards, which are approved by the International Society for Quality in Health Care, cover a whole range of topics pertaining to patients, facilities and administration.
A detailed presentation on the NABH standards was made recently by B. Krishnamurthy, Director of Acute Patient Care Services, Kaveri Hospital, Chennai, at a national conference ‘HOSMAN 2012' organised here by the Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC).
According to a press release, Dr. Krishnamurthy is an empanelled principal assessor and NABH trainer who is an expert in guiding the hospitals in quality standards. His lecture covered all standards and objective elements related to facilities of hospitals, legal and statutory requirements, World Health Organisation guidelines, Indian public health standards, fire safety, hazardous material management and disaster/bio-medical management.
The third edition of NABH standards has five patient-centred chapters, five management-centric chapters, 102 quality standards and 636 object elements.
Hospitals and healthcare institutions are expected to substantially comply with each of these elements by understanding, documenting, training, monitoring and implementing the requirements, he said.
Assessment of a hospital which will be done by an independent and approved body of assessors maintained by the NABH will take place in nine to twelve months after application.
The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers accreditation lasts for three years with a surveillance audit to be done in 18 months after a hospital receives accreditation.
According to Dr. Krishnamurthy, though there are approximately 40,000-odd 50-bedded hospitals, only about 125 hospitals were accredited so far and another 500 hospitals including private/corporate and Government hospitals are in the process of getting accreditation.
U. K. Ananthapadmanabhan, Chief Executive Officer, MMHRC and P. Boopathy, General Manager, Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai, besides officials from insurance companies were among those who addressed the delegates at the conference.
