In a bid to identify gaps in the healthcare institution-level and fulfill quality assurance parameters, the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project (TNHSP) has set in motion the process to form quality assurance committees in government hospitals (GH) in Vellore district.
Such committees will be formed at the GHs at Arakkonam, Walajapet, Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur and Gudiyatham.
To start with, a quality core committee has been formed at the GH, Gudiyatham under the head of its Chief Medical Officer for the institution-level.
A sensitisation meeting on quality assurance and gap analysis was also conducted at the hospital on Tuesday, officials said.
“During the meeting, we explained how a gap analysis should be conducted to identify the requirements for quality assurance. The requirements in terms of equipment, manpower and medicines should be identified by the committee,” A. Kennedy, district project coordinator, TNHSP, Vellore said.
Co-ordinator appointed
A quality assurance coordinator was also appointed for the GH. The committee consists of members from the administrative side such as superintendent, nursing superintendent, chief pharmacist, chief lab technician and senior doctors of clinical departments of the hospital.
“We have given the committee two to three days time to identify the gaps in the hospital. They should analyse each department, ward and facility within the institution. Once this is done, they should discuss the immediate requirements and sketch the priorities for fulfilling quality assurance requirements,” he explained.
Objective
Setting up of the committee at the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital is also in the pipeline, he added. Dr. Kennedy said the objective of this initiative is to ensure that the need for quality parameters comes from within a hospital. The staff will be sensitised and the committees will come up at the institution-level.
“Even without supervision, the hospital staff should see that quality assurance measures are in place. TNHSP has already formed quality circles in all hospitals, and this is another step towards ensuring quality at institutions,” he mentioned.
This is part of TNHSP’s plans to implement quality assurance by forming quality assurance committees at the State and district levels. It also plans to set up regional quality assurance units and district quality teams.
Dr. Kennedy said to start with, this initiative is being put in place in 10 districts across the State, with Vellore being one of them. Officials from the district had already participated in a State-level meeting for the quality assurance framework.
It is an attempt to identify gaps in the healthcare institution-level and fulfill quality assurance parameters
Committee will consist of members from administrative side, senior doctors, and superintendents
