Nine hospitals in the State have secured national quality assurance standard (NQAS) certification. Seven of them managed to get re-certification after three years while two hospitals are newly certified.
A total of 148 healthcare institutions in the State’s public sector, including five district hospitals, four taluk hospitals, eight community health centres, 38 urban primary health centres, and 93 family health centres, now have NQAS certification.
The newly certified institutions are the Family Health Centres at Kottukal, Thiruvananthapuram, and Ozhoor, Malappuram.
The seven healthcare institutions that managed to retain their NQAS certification three years after the original certification are CHC Kadambazhippuram, Palakkad; FHC Vazhoor, Kottayam; PHC Srikrishnapuram, Palakkad; PHC Valiaparambu, Kasaragod; Urban PHC Perunna, Kottayam; PHC Kayyur, Kasaragod; and PHC Karindalam, Kasaragod.
National Quality Assurance Standards have been developed by the National Health Systems Resource Centre, the technical support institution of the National Health Mission.
The NQAS are broadly arranged under eight ‘areas of concern’ namely service provision, patient rights, inputs, support services, clinical care, infection control, quality management, and outcome.
Hospitals undergo district-level and State-level quality inspection checks for some 6,500 check points under the areas of concern, before being certified by a national-level team. NQAS certification is valid for three years after which hospitals will have to apply for re-certification.
Hospitals also receive financial incentives for securing the certification, which can be used by the institution for its development works.
