The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), a constituent body under the Quality Council of India, will roll out an infection control programme — ‘Safe-I'— across the State for small and medium hospitals, both government and private, for better healthcare outcome.
The scheme will be implemented in association with Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD-India), a global medical technology company.
The project, piloted in Ernakulam district in 2008 by the National Rural Health Mission had been quite successful in getting many hospitals to stick to uniform protocol in infection-control practices.
The results were so encouraging that the Quality Council of India decided to take over the ‘Safe-I' initiative, along with BD-India, and to offer the programme across Kerala as the Level One accreditation programme for hospitals to move towards full NABH accreditation at a later stage.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, district programme manager of NRHM in Ernakulam district K.V. Beena; managing director of BD-India Manoj Gopalakrishna; and the State coordinator of IAP M. A. Mathew, said that 21 hospitals in Ernakulam district, including six government hospitals, has secured the accreditation after implementing the ‘Safe-I' initiative.
The ‘Safe-I' initiative gives hospitals technical assistance to achieve minimum essential standards in infection control practices, which comprise elements such as injection safety, infusion safety, setting up infection control policies, safety of healthcare workers, biomedical waste management and disinfection, and sterilisation procedures.
NABH norms tough
“NABH standards are very exacting and they insist on standards and procedures encompassing 514 elements. NABH accreditation is awarded to only those hospitals which comply with at least 70 per cent of these elements, which is not easy. About 30 per cent of the standards insisted by NABH deals with infection control practices in hospitals,” pointed out Dr. Beena.
Hospital-acquired
In the Indian settings, about 10 to 40 per cent of the infections treated in hospitals are estimated to be hospital-acquired ones.
BD-India, which has partnered with NABH, will provide off-site technical support and training to hospitals for upgrading their infection control practices through Safe-I.
The Safe-I accreditation will be viewed as a precursor for preparing healthcare institutions for NABH accreditation, Mr. Gopalakrishna said.
With small hospitals providing almost 60 per cent of the medical care, the Safe-I initiative will improve hospital safety and healthcare delivery for the masses.
