The Karnataka government is on a mission to increase accessibility, affordablity and availability of quality healthcare in the state. As part of this, the government plans to upgrade 10 hospitals across the state. In addition to this, the government also plans to secure the hospitals National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers’s (NABH’s) accreditation.
For achieving the same, the government will take the help of private hospitals who would be able to provide personnel and help establish systems and processes to bring them on a par with the private sector healthcare providers. The state government has floated a tender. “The process is expected to cost the state Rs 25-30 crore to fill up the gaps to secure accreditations,” said Gopalakrishna Gowda K H, principal secretary — medical education, Dept of Health and Family Welfare. As of now, two hospitals have NABH accreditation. One in Tamil Nadu and another in Kerala.
Increasing the quality of healthcare delivery is necessary for increasing the accessibility, affordablity and availability of healthcare. The government is planning to take the expertise of private healthcare providers whose personnel would “hand-hold” the hospital and its personnel towards meeting its goal of improving quality and securing the accreditation.
In the next three years, the state hopes to upgrade 205 of the 2,310 primary health centres (PHC) in the state. The government will try to provide better infrastructure and improve the quality of healthcare delivery at these PHCs, added Gowda.“As a means to increase the reach of healthcare, the government must act as the financier and not as provider of healthcare,” said Rajen Padukone, CEO, Manipal Health Systems. When the private sector is providing the service, there should be supervision, and hence there is a need for accreditation.
Meanwhile, the government is set to implement the new Food Safety and Standards Act which is set to come into force from August 5. The new act is more stringent and calls for more stringent punishment for manufacturers of adulterated food. It calls for imprisonment up to seven years with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. In case of death due to adulterated food, the maximum punishment will be life term and fine will be up to Rs 10 lakh.
If a person dies after consuming the adulterated food, the kin of the deceased will get financial compensation of not less than Rs 5 lakh, while in case of grievous injury not less than Rs 3 lakh will be paid. Under the Act, all traders who deal in food business and whose annual turnover is Rs 12 lakh and above will have to register themselves with the food department and procure licence. The government will soon launch an online registration process for such traders.
Under the new law, cases related to sub-standard food items as well as misleading advertisement about the food products will not go to the court and only fine will be imposed by the ADMs.
The new act cases need not go to the court and hence the cases are expected to be disposed off fast.