Taking a lead in the first of its kind initiative in the country, the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) will assess medical colleges and teaching hospitals and award them with credits.
A draft of this proposal is being formulated by the university. Dr K S Sriprakash, vice Chancellor, RGUHS said, “Medical hospitals are being accredited as 70 percent of medical colleges are attached to teaching hospitals to begin with. The Quality Council of India(QCI) and the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare(NABH) have been roped in to assess the medical institutions. The assessment will done for all government medical and dental colleges and other private institutions as well.”
A three-day training programme was organised to discuss the methodology to improve the standards and quality of medical colleges. Experts from NABH and QCI imparted training to faculty from government medical and dental colleges to ensure that the institutions are brought to the required standards for accreditation. “The QCI has inspected 12 medical colleges and six dental colleges so far. The assessment has started with the teaching hospitals for now”, the VC said.
The draft, formulated for the assessment and accreditation, will also cover the regulations and the requirements for quality improvement in the institutions.
The accreditation will be awarded for three years to the medical colleges, and 82 medical colleges and 300 nursing colleges will be assessed in the first stage.
Former Dean of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute Dr T Rajeshwari has been appointed as the director of the committee to assess medical teaching hospitals. “The assessment of the medical teaching hospitals will increase the gradation of these institutions. The accreditation of these colleges will also instill confidence in the patients about the hospitals,” she noted.
Rajeshwari also pointed out, “Most hospitals have ignored documentation of patient history. The accreditation will look at documentation as the most relevant element for assessment. Efforts are made to ensure that documents will be available online for effective medical treatment.’