NABH to certify public hospitals in Gujarat

Gujarat has applied for accreditation of its district hospitals and medical colleges with the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH). NABH is a constituent board of Quality Council of India set up to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations across the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar (IIPHG), minister of state for health, Jay Narayan Vyas, said, "Gujarat is the first state in the whole of Asia to bring its public hospitals under NABH standards. Currently, there are only six private hospitals in the country accreditated with NABH but no public hospitals."

To be initiated in a phased manner, public hospitals in Junagadh, Rajpipla, Godhra, Gandhinagar, Sola, Mehsana, Valsad and Kutch, and a medical college in Rajkot will be accreditated in the first phase, said JL Meena, state quality assurance officer, department of health.

In the second phase, eight district hospitals and the remaining five medical colleges would be standardised, followed by accreditation of the remaining nine district hospitals in the third phase.