Union Health Minister Nadda launches comprehensive health standards dashboard, New initiatives

Delhi: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda will unveil three initiatives at the आयुष्मान भारत गुणवत्त स्वास्थ्य event at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 28th June 2024, in presence of Ministers of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao and Smt Anupriya Singh Patel. 

The Union Health Minister will launch a virtual NQAS assessment for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAM) Sub-centres. This will represent a significant innovation in the quality assurance framework for public health facilities as a time and cost-saving measure. Through this system, the virtually assessed health AAM-SC will be conferred with the NQAS ( National Quality Assurance Standards) certificate. 

The Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) guidelines, introduced in 2007 and updated periodically with the latest update in 2022, set quality benchmarks for public health facilities from primary to secondary level health care facilities. These standards ensure consistent, accessible, and accountable healthcare services nationwide. All public health institutions are encouraged to carry out assessments and strive towards bridging the identified gaps.

To expedite this process and support these health institutions, the Health Ministry has developed a dashboard that will aid the national, state and district health institutions and health facilities in quickly monitoring compliance with respect to IPHS standards and taking action accordingly. Union Health Minister will launch the IPHS dashboard during the event tomorrow.

National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) for Integrated Public Health Laboratories (IPHL), located at District Hospitals, will be released during the event. The Standards will improve the quality and competence of management and testing systems in IPHLs which will positively impact the reliability of test results and help gain the trust of clinicians, patients and the public regarding lab outputs. Revised guidelines for Kayakalp will also be released tomorrow.

A ground-breaking new functionality for the instant issuance of licenses and registrations through the Food Safety and Compliance System (FoSCoS) will also be launched. FoSCoS is a state-of-the-art, pan-India IT platform designed to address all food safety regulatory needs. This innovative system simplifies the licensing and registration processes, offering an enhanced user experience.

key stakeholders, including senior officials from Central and State Governments, healthcare providers, and international health organisations will also attend the event.