The honour could not have come at a better time for the Taluk Hospital, Chalakudy, located at Thrissur’s southern border with Ernakulam district. The devastating deluge had laid waste much of what had been created through hard work over several years. Therefore, the news that it has been chosen to occupy the top position among government-run hospitals across the country in terms of its quality of service has come as a healing touch to everyone associated with the hospital.
The hospital, which had won the State Accreditation and the Arogya Keralam Award, has secured the top position in the certification process of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) based on the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) with a score of 98.07.
The NQAS has been developed in keeping with the specific requirements for public health facilities and global best practices. The NQAS measures quality mainly through criteria such as service, patient rights, support services, clinical care, infection control, quality management and bio-waste management.
“Creation and maintenance of quality health care, hygiene and service do not happen overnight. We have been working on this for many years,” says M.G. Sivadas, hospital superintendent. Documentation, according to him, is one of the weakest areas in our hospitals. “Right from clear and readable prescriptions, patient history and administration of medicines and treatment practices, everything has been documented clearly here. These records are monitored regularly. This not only to make things easy for the patients, but also helps us simplify matters in the event of medico-legal cases coming up,” the superintendent pointed out. We conduct a death audit too to review the reason for death. “Whether it could have been avoided. And what precautions could be taken in future to avoid such incidents,” notes Dr. Sivadas.
The hospital gives prizes for best maintained wards in terms of cleanliness and hygiene. Best staff are given awards in recognition of their service. “Motivation for the staff has a key role in performance of the hospital. Their safety is also important,” Dr. Sivadasan said.
It maintains strict infection-control practices. A patient coming to the hospital with a disease should not contract any other infection, he noted.
It places patients’ right to information at the very top of its priorities. There are boards clearly mentioning the rights and responsibilities of staff as well as patients.
Established in 1893, it was first upgraded to a Secondary Health Care Centre and later to Taluk Hospital. The Taluk hospital had modern facilities, including dialysis units, mammogram, modern dental unit and video ENT workstation.
The hospital, with an allotted bed strength of 144 and working bed strength of 203, offers specialty services in General Medicine, Surgery, Gynaecology & Obstetrics, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, ENT, Anastasia, Dermatology, Radiology and dental.
