Date:16/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/16/stories/2006101619930400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Call for quality management in healthcare

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: R.M. Varma, Professor Emeritus and Founder Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), inaugurated the Bangalore Chapter of the Academy of Hospital Administration here on Sunday.

A seminar on quality management in healthcare organisations was organised on the occasion.

Dr. Varma said quality was important for the development of any healthcare organisation.

Enhancing quality

"Quality should come out of passion and not compulsion. The need for enhancing quality is necessary as it finally benefits patients," he said. Girdhar Gyani, Secretary-General of the Quality Council of India (QCI), said the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), which is a constituent board of the QCI, had come out with standards for hospitals, based on which they would be accredited. Till now, no hospital got accreditation from the NABH, Dr. Varma said.

The board had received 20 applications from hospitals across the country, which were being scrutinised, he said.

Hospital administration

There was a need to empower hospital administrators on the quality benchmarks necessary to run an efficient healthcare organisation.

Dr. Varma urged them to take up the course for quality assessors being offered by the QCI. V.S. Prasad of National Assessment and Accreditation Council; V.K. Singh, president of the Academy of Hospital Administration, and A.K. Agarwal, vice-president, were present.