Maha: BMC proposes NABH certification for its hospitals

Mumbai: All the major tertiary care hospitals and the periphery hospitals under Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai are now set to aim for National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) to improve patient care and the quality of healthcare services.  

The deans of the four tertiary care hospitals and the chief medical superintendent of peripheral hospitals held a meeting last week. 

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Dr Sudhakar Shinde, additional municipal commissioner said that they had an online meeting with the NABH committee who further guided the corporation. "We are aiming for NABH accreditation for all of our major hospitals and peripheral hospitals too. It will be a long-term process, but we are beginning with the auditing of hospitals which will fill the gaps," he said. 

Dr Vivek Desai, founder of HOSMAC, a healthcare management consultancy said that it would be difficult to regulate the operational process and documentation work at these hospitals despite qualifying for the NABH requirement infrastructure-wise. 

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Desai said, "For NABH, you need standard operating procedures in every segment. One must maintain records in a particular manner, staffing needs to be done, the doctor-patient ratio, nurses-patient ratio must be maintained, and everything needs to be documented." 

He added, "It will improve patient care in civic hospitals as getting NABH accreditation means the hospital follows all safety measures, fire protocols, maintains records, etc. It will improve hygiene. Leakages, which are commonly seen in public hospitals, won’t be seen." 

Stating that a specific doctor-patient and nurses-patient ratio is required for the accreditation, Desai said, "For example, the nursing ratio in an intensive care unit must be one nurse for two patients, wards also one nurse for eight-ten patients. This will improve patient care." 

Talking about the National Building Code which mandates one toilet for every six patients, he said, "But in most civic hospitals, it is not maintained. As the BMC starts work for NABH, these things will improve. It will also help improve academic programmes." 

Dr Avinash Supe, the medical director of PD Hinduja Hospital said, "I personally feel this is a good initiative, but the workload at civic hospitals is a lot, and NABH will require a lot of documentation. To put all the systems in place, the hospital will require additional manpower." 

The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI), set up in 2005 to establish and operate accreditation programmes for healthcare organizations. The hospitals are assessed on over 600 parameters for NABH. They focus on patient safety and the quality of the delivery of services by hospitals. 

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