Looking to improve the healthcare facilities for the patients, a host of government hospitals in the country have launched efforts to get accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH), an arm of Quality Council of India.

Close on the heels of corporate hospitals in the private sector, as many as eight government hospitals in Delhi are in advanced stages of getting the accreditation which would entirely change the functioning of the not-so-impressive public sector healthcare institutions, sources in the NABH said.

Apart from this, some hospitals in Gujarat and Kerala, besides 12 government-hospitals in Tamil Nadu have also entered into agreement with the NABH for accreditation. The agency has already done preliminary surveys and pointed out the necessary facilities to be added in this regard.

If things go as per the plans, Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya (CNBC), a relatively little-known paediatric hospital in east Delhi, may actually become the country's first government hospital with a quality control certification. The Delhi government had signed an MoU with the QCI in December last to initiate the procedures for quality accreditation within three years.

Lok Nayak, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Deen Dayal Upadhyay, CNBC, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Studies and G B Pant are the hospitals in line for quality control certificates and the agency had already taken up a few rounds of inspections, sources said. The Delhi government has also earmarked necessary funds for the training and inspections by the agency.

A team from NABH and QCI have already undertaken a baseline survey or pre-assessment of the hospitals and rated them on 503 different parameters including criteria like patient satisfaction, hospital infection control, patient rights and education, management of medication, management, procurement norms, HR practices etc. However, it was also reported that the findings of the first survey were not so encouraging with the agency giving a score of 2.8 out of 10 for most of the government hospitals.

The Tamil Nadu government had also signed a MoU with the QCI for upgrading 12 hospitals, while the agency also took up preliminary surveys in Gujarat and Kerala on the request of the governments there, sources added.

At present as many as 19 private hospitals, including six from Delhi and four from Kerala, were given the NABH accreditation while 55 others, all in private sector, have applied for the same and process was going on for according quality certificate.