CHENNAI: The city is second only to New Delhi with 24 accredited hospitals that were certified by National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Healthcare Institutions (NABH). Across Tamil Nadu, NABH has certified over 55 private and government-run hospitals.
The accreditation will enable patients to make calculated choices on healthcare services. “Also it puts the onus on the institution to uphold the same quality, as there are now surprise checks by NABH to ensure the various standards are met,” said BG Menon, managing director, ACME Consulting.
He was speaking at the launch of a healthcare portal www.qualityhealth.in recently. It is expected that over 300 hospitals in the State will receive accreditation from the Central government by end of this year. The NABH certification is awarded to institutions that uphold quality standards in various aspects like lab services, display of patient rights and education, procedures on patient care, management of medication, infection control, HR management and other delivery systems.
Accreditations are awarded under different categories like small hospitals, progressive level, entry levels and full certification. “Medical tourism that was stagnant in the last few years will benefit from the accreditation process,” said Menon. “Transparency in hospital administration is the biggest take-away from NABH standards, which the new portal would focus on.”
Menon along with Dr K K Kalra, CEO of NABH and Giridhar J Gyani, director general, AHPI (Association of Healthcare Providers India) launched the web portal that seeks to list out all healthcare institutions that have got NABH stamp of approval. The site hosts information on hospitals from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and in the coming weeks will cover nearly 500 institutions across the country.