For the first time, two government healthcare institutions in Andhra Pradesh received accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH).
According to a release by the State government on Saturday, the Government Hospital for Mental Care and Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases in Visakhapatnam were accorded the NABH accreditation.
NABH accreditation has been so far acquired by about 75 private hospitals in the State.
Hospitals, healthcare centres, blood banks, laboratories and other healthcare institutions across the country are accreditated by NABH, a division of the Quality Council of India, after a thorough examination of the standards maintained in patient rights, ancillary services, clinical care, infection control, quality management, quality management of health services and patient safety among others.
The release stated that the State government has taken steps to ensure that all teaching hospitals, district hospitals, area hospitals, primary health centres, urban primary health centres, community health centres and village health clinics meet the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) in the State.
So far, 537 health centres and teaching hospitals have already received NQAS certifications in the State. For the year 2023-24, the government is working on the target of ensuring NQAS certifications to 2,956 health centres, according to the release.
The Health Department is also focussed on improving the quality of care during delivery and post-delivery, reducing the severity of problems during delivery, and providing dignified obstetric care to all pregnant women admitted to public health centres as NQAS aims at reducing maternal mortality.
In the year 2022-23, 2,041 health centres have received NQAS across the country and 452 health centres are from Andhra Pradesh.
