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National Workshop on Accreditation and
Standardization of Health Services
9 February 2005, New Delhi
Welcome Address
Shri
B P Sharma, Joint Secretary, (IH), MoH&FW
I would like to extend my warm welcome to you all
for coming together for this crucial workshop.
Friends, healthcare sector in India has
made impressive strides in the recent years. As health care is dependent on
the people served, India’s
huge population represents a big opportunity. However, good healthcare in India is
still in short supply and it is this gap, which reflects a vast opportunity
for this sector.
The world over professionally driven healthcare
accreditation system has been the most successful mechanism to achieve continuous
improvement in healthcare delivery. The lack of any kind of quality assurance
mechanisms (such as accreditation) in India not only makes it difficult
for the people to make informed choices in selecting health providers but
also limits their capacity to demand optimum services. It is hence very
important to set up world-class health facilities in India, as it
would result in raising the quality standards of health care delivery.
With
a view to promote India
as a Health Care Destination for persons across the globe, the Ministry of
Health & Family Welfare has constituted a Task Force, so as to gainfully
utilize the health care expertise and infrastructure available in the
country. India
would also be able to further improve its national health systems and
generate foreign exchange and additional resources for investment in health
care. The recommendations of the task force as of now are awaited.
I would also like to mention here that in the rural
healthcare mission that the Ministry has just launched, we are committed to
have an Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).
It
is important to recognize that many of the adverse implications of trade in
health services are not due to globalisation, which, on the contrary,
provides tremendous opportunities. Therefore, there is a need to develop a
comprehensive health care system in place to reap the benefits of
globalisation. There is a need to develop an enabling environment in which
high quality of healthcare can flourish throughout the country.
There have been three primary approaches for
evaluating quality of healthcare achieved by any organization, i.e., Licensing,
Certification and Accreditation. The world over healthcare accreditation
system has been the most successful mechanism to achieve continuous
improvement in healthcare delivery.
Accreditation is basically setting up of health
standards and allowing the private and even government healthcare providers
to comply with the standards through regular process. The accreditation
process has to be voluntary and the government may not very actively
intervene in the accreditation process, but government would be behind it. It
would be a big step if we have an accreditation system in place in the
country. Success of the accreditation system would depend on how soon a
regulatory framework is put in place.
Thus, for India to become a preferred
healthcare destination, an internationally acceptable and credible
accreditation system is the first pre-requisite. Recognizing the need for
quality assurance system and the regulatory mechanism, the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, along with the WHO, has taken the initiative of organising this one day National Workshop on
Accreditation and standardisation of health
services.
The major issues that we would address in the course
of the day are the purpose of accreditation for different stakeholders and
the gains of establishing an accreditation system for health care facilities
for India.
With the participation of our learned participants, we look forward to some
meaningful recommendations coming out at the end of the day.
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