The newly acquired NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers) accreditation of the 110-year old Women and Children’s Hospital, Kozhikode, is expected to revolutionise the health care scenario in Kozhikode and neighbouring districts.
With this, even the economically weak could avail themselves of facilities of international standard at the hospital. Moreover, efforts were being made to elevate the hospital into the best hospital for women and children in Asia, Minister for Social Welfare and Panchayats M.K. Muneer, who played a major role in obtaining the funds for the hospital, said. Kottapparambu Hospital is only the fourth government hospital in the State and first in the district to be upgraded to this level. The award from the State Pollution Control board for being the third cleanest hospital in the State a few months ago was a real boost to the morale of the staff.
The State government spent around Rs.3.5 crore to better the facilities of the hospital in the last few years, so as to obtain the NABH accreditation. The efforts began in 2008 when the State government chose it to be one among the 14 hospitals to be prepared for the accreditation. The team led by hospital superintendant A.M. Muhammed had a hard time reaching up to the stringent quality standards of NABH. Money was channelled from various sources besides what was spent by the National Rural Health Mission. A. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, had allocated Rs.14 lakh for the development activities in the hospital while M.K. Raghavan, MP, had allocated around Rs.10 lakh. Additional funds came from the Public Works Department and the yearly allowance to the hospital development society.
Despite its space constraints and the antiquity of the hospital building, a lot of development activities took place in the hospital in the last five years. This includes a High Dependent Unit for newborn care upgraded into a Special Newborn Care Unit with all advanced machinery at a cost of Rs.30 lakhs; a recently renovated operation theatre with centralised air-conditioning and Hepa-Filter that filters out the tiniest micro-organisms; 24-hour uninterrupted power supply and all latest equipment. A unitised sub-station was set up to solve the recurring fire accidents in the hospital owing to faulty wiring. The wiring, which was of aluminum, has been completely changed at a cost of Rs.45 lakh. Five generators — three of 25 KV power, one 100 KV, and one 40 KV — have been set up to ensure that a power failure never occurs in any part of the hospital. The 100KV generator, set up at a cost of Rs.12 lakh, caters solely to the operation theatre.
