Chennai: Five government hospitals from Tamil Nadu have managed to enter the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) certificate hospital list, competing with private hospitals.
Despite Chennai having several government hospitals, only Tambaram Government General Hospital has made it to the list. Government hospitals in Nammakal Sholingur, Padmanabapuram, Hosur and Tambaram made it this time.
“Smaller government hospitals in the state have completed their process. Our hospital and other big government institutions like Madras Medical College, have initiated the process. As it is a huge process, it may take some time,” said Dr Isaac Christian Moses, Dean, Stanley Medical College.
Tamil Nadu has 57 NABH hospitals, while Chennai has 24. NABH, central government’s National Hospitality Quality Accreditation Programme, launched its healthcare portal ‘QHEALTH4U’ in Chennai on Saturday as a part of its attempt to improve healthcare in the country.
The portal offers inputs about NABH Hospitals both government and private on services, patient safety, quality standards and costs. On the need to promote medical safety, Director General, NABH, Girdhar Gyani, said, “The launch of the portal is a campaign to improve healthcare facilities in our country. Hospitals, when accredited, gain the title of a ‘smart hospital’, which is the merging of design and technology to ensure patient safety.”
Stressing on the harsh truth that many unintentional errors are made by some hospitals, CEO of NABH Dr K.K. Kalra said “Patient safety is very important and a hospital can be trusted if it has an accreditation.” Hospitals showcased on the portal have all been validated for clinical quality, good administrative practices and patient friendly measures by NABH. NABH is a transparent process that makes known to the public what services each hospital provides, their procedures, their doctors, services and rates.
“As the common man is still unaware of the existence of such a board, its growth is minimal,” said B.G. Menon, Managing Director of Chennai-based ACME Consulting, which developed the portal. “The point to note about Chennai and other metros is that a NABH hospital is in everyone’s reach,” he added.
