In a bid to provide quality healthcare services and to curb Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) within the hospital of Maharashtra, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) and Becton Dickinson India will be launching NABH-Safe-ITSM Infection Control Accreditation Programme for hospitals on Friday, January 17, 2014. The programme will be launched Maharashtra, in the presence of Dr Satish Pawar, Director-Health Services Government of Maharashtra, Dr Archana Patil, Additional Director – Health Services (Hospitals), Government of Maharashtra, along with Dr Abhay Chowdhary, Director Haffkine Institute, Mumbai and Dr Gayatri Mahindroo, Director NABH.
With the launch of this programme, Maharashtra becomes the third state in the country after Kerala and Punjab to adopt this programme in its effort to strengthen health systems and promote continuous quality improvement to ensure quality care for patients when visiting hospitals with effective infection control practices in place. Introduction of an infection control programme has already attracted hospitals from within the state to apply for the programme. From Mumbai alone, more than 50 hospitals have submitted their applications; some of them being Bombay Hospital and Research Centre, Breach Candy Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and Sanjeevani Surgical and General Hospital.
NABH and BD had entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2012 to support hospitals in attaining quality-of-care standards for infection control. In last 18 months, 50 hospitals across Kerala and Punjab have been certified with NABH Safe-I accreditation successfully. Under this programme, NABH recommends safe injection and infusion practices, biomedical waste management, healthcare workers safety and sterilisation and disinfection, to name a few. NABH will also provide a consultant through its technical partner – BD to help applicants build capability to run a robust infection control program, providing training content and surveillance tools, as well as conducting a baseline and an end-line assessment post the training, basis which the applicant hospital knows when it is ready to invite NABH assessors.
Speaking on the need for having an infection control programme in place, Dr Mahindroo, says,“NABH accreditation is becoming integral to any hospital who wants to offer quality-of-care standards. An effective infection control programme like the NABH- Safe-ITSM is the stepping stone towards NABH accreditation for those hospitals that have not yet started their journey towards accreditation. Our association with BD for this programme will enable us to provide on- and off-site technical support to collaborating institutions for upgrading their infection control practices.”
Dr Chowdhary who has supported this initiative opines, “NABH Safe- ITSM certification comes in at the right time when the state is taking efforts to reduce infections and healthcare costs burden for patients and thereby reducing morbidity rates. Such collaborative programmes help achieve better patient care for the long term.”
Dr Bhaskar J Sonowal, Technical Advisor- Infection Control and Patient Safety BD India said, “BD has always worked toward achieving our purpose of ‘Helping all people live healthy lives’. We are glad that the certification process is moving at a good pace and is becoming a choice for many hospitals across states who are eager to improve the quality of patient care.”
NABH-Safe-ITSM certification is a precursor to preparing healthcare organisations (HCOs) or small healthcare organisations (SHCOs) for NABH accreditation. Through its experienced field force, BD is guiding applicant hospitals toward NABH-Safe-ITSM preparation and other relevant training and development workshops.
EH News Bureau
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