Hyderabad-based Star Hospitals becomes the fifth hospital in Andhra Pradesh to get the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare (NABH) accreditation. With this accreditation Star Hospital becomes the 78th hospital in the country to have received this prestigious accreditation.

The certificate was presented by Dr Girdhar J Gyani, head of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers in India and secretary general of Quality Council of India (QCI) in a function specially organised for the purpose. It was also the day of Star Hospitals Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Girdhar J Gyani added that while country boasts of 40,000 small, medium and big corporate hospitals, it is irony that only 111 have got NABH accreditation. He said, “On the government hospitals front while we have 650 government hospitals both including district and primary health centres, only eight hospitals have been awarded NABH accreditation. None of these hospitals are from the state of Andhra Pradesh.”

He informed that while 15 government hospitals in Tamil Nadu have started the NABH process, two have got NABH. Similarly in Kerala 19 started the process and two have already got it, in Gujarat 29 started and three have been awarded the accreditation. Whereas Karnataka is pushing for the accreditation of 12 government hospitals in its first phase, he said.

Among private and government put together 526 hospitals are actively pursuing accreditation in the country today. And he expects nearly 500 hospitals to get accreditation in the next five years.

NABH accreditation helps hospitals and patients in many ways. In a study done by QCI in six hospitals they found that the infection rate after NABH accreditation was granted has come down to five to seven per cent, while the average prevailing rate across the globe was 18 to 40 per cent. Which means, NABH helps dramatically to improve the quality of health care delivery. He also said that it was found by them that the average duration of hospitalisation has also come down in NABH accredited hospitals.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Gopichan Mannam, managing director of Star Hospitals said that the accreditation of hospitals assumes particular significance as it relies on establishing technical competence of healthcare organisations in terms of certain standards in delivering services.