The century-old Women and Children’s Hospital at Kottapparamba will be one of the first in the government sector in the State to be accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Hospital & Health Care Providers (NABH), Minister for Health and Family Welfare V.S. Sivakumar has said.
The other hospitals to get the NABH accreditation are Women and Children’s Hospital, Thycaud, Thiruvananthapuram, General Hospital, Ernakulam, and Taluk Hospital, Cherthala.
Inaugurating the renovated operation theatre complex in the hospital at Kottapparamba in Kozhikode on Sunday, Mr. Sivakumar said the aim would be to raise one hospital in each district to national standards through NABH accreditation.
Besides, all government hospitals in the State would be brought under the Kerala Accreditation Standard for Hospitals (KASH) so that quality care could be provided at affordable cost to all people.
In the first phase, two primary health centres (PHCs), two community health centres (CHCs), and one taluk hospital in every district would be brought under KASH, the Minister added.
He said stringent steps were being taken to solve the scarcity of doctors. So far, all doctors on the PSC list had been appointed, and additional doctors would be recruited through the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
Also, an emergency list of 2,500 doctors had been made. More than 2,000 additional posts had been created, which included nearly 1,200 nursing staff, paramedical staff, and doctors.
On the medicine front, the government had made sure 820 items of medicines were available free of cost to all. Treatment was free for all children up to 18 years of age.
The government would bear all expenses for deliveries, including transportation of the pregnant women to and from the nearest hospital, the Minister said.
Minister for Social Justice and Panchayats M.K. Muneer said the government had spent Rs.3.5 crore for improving the facilities at the Kottapparamba hospital to ready it for the next NABH audit.
The operation theatre complex was renovated at a cost of Rs.35,10,700 with air conditioning and other facilities.
