Quality of service, and not quantity, will now be used to grade government hospitals in Andhra Pradesh. Besides, patients will have a greater say in rating hospitals. Till now weightage was being given to the quantum of service, based on which quality of service is determined. The hospitals are graded A, B, C. There are 71A grade, 52 B grade and 36 C grade hospitals under the Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP).

The government has decided to go in for recruitment on contract basis for filling vacant posts in dispensaries and hospitals, especially those falling under the jurisdiction of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

According to APVVP Assistant Commissioner N Veerbhariah, the present grading of hospitals did not match the patients' perceptions. For example, in some cases, a hospital that was graded A was, however, not rated high by the patients. But from this month, patients at district hospitals, area hospitals and community health centres will be asked to give their opinion on the level of attention given by a doctor, quality on nursing, quality of food served, supply of medicines, cleanliness and hygiene and user charges levied.

The district coordinator of health services (DCHS) will get the feedback from at least 10 patients from each hospital.

Moreover, weightage will be given to innovative surgeries, the number of ante-natal cases that ultimately came for delivery at the hospital, quality of information, education and communication campaigns and the medical camps conducted by these hospitals.

As of now, the hospital superintendents send details with regard to quantity indicators like the number of out-patients and in-patients, the number of deliveries and lab tests conducted under the existing performance indicator grading system.

Under the new system, the district coordinator of health services will also go to each hospital and check whether the information sent by the hospital superintendent actually matches with the records. The entire process will be supervised by APVVP Commissioner Dr K Anji Reddy.

The district coordinator of health services and senior officials of APVVP will also have the right to give their opinion with regard to the quality and quantity of service.

The annual patient satisfaction survey that was last conducted in December 2001 by the Institute of Health Systems will also be undertaken this year by the APVVP.

Due to shortage of staff and the vacant posts, employees covered under the ESI and their family members were facing difficulty in getting proper medicare. The dispensaries and referral hospitals were unable to provide complete medicare for want of staff and doctors. Patients were not even given reimbursement for medical treatment provided at private hospitals. In this backdrop, the state government had obtained permission from the Centre to fill vacancies in the hospitals and dispensaries located in the state on contract basis.

This is for the first time that the posts were filled on contract basis in these hospitals. In all, 34 Civil Assistant Surgeon posts, 35 staff nurse posts, 35 lab technical grade-II posts, 15 ANM posts and pharmacists will be filled through contract system. The term of the contract will be initially for one year and later extended to suit the requirements.