The Hindu Business Line : Indian standards for accreditation of hospitals coming soon

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Indian standards for accreditation of hospitals coming soon

Our Bureau

Chennai , Oct. 6

THE Government is likely to announce within six months "standards for accreditation of hospitals in India," Ms Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, has said.

Speaking at a seminar on opportunities for partnership between Indian and British companies in healthcare, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Ms Reddy said that Apollo Hospitals had secured the `JCI accreditation' (US accreditation) for its hospital in Delhi. (She later told Business Line that the Apollo Chennai would get it in another six months.)

Observing that many hospitals were aspiring for JCI accreditation, Ms Reddy said that evolving Indian standards was also necessary.

Later, answering a question as to whether `Indian standards' would help get foreign patients, she said that over a period of time, the standards were bound to gain acceptance from abroad as well. She said that several requirements of JCI (and other Western) standards were unnecessary in the Indian context. For example, the US had many requirements for safety from fire, although, unlike in the US, Indian hospitals used far lesser inflammable material such as carpets and wooden partitions.

Mr David Hawkins, Mission Leader, UK Trade and Investments, agreed with Ms Reddy that developing India's own standards was necessary.

Answering another question by Dr G Bakthavathsalam, Chairman, KG Hospitals, Mr Hawkins said that there was no political issue in the UK about sending patients to a developing country for treatment.

He later told journalists that the UK did not support any patient getting treatment overseas if the journey time was more than three hours.

Dr G.K.S. Velu, President, Association of Medical Devices and Suppliers of India, told the seminar that the demand for diagnostic equipment in India was growing at around 20 per cent.

He said that it was imperative that Indian corporates took up manufacturing of the equipment. Trivitron Medical Systems (P) Ltd, a company that Dr Velu is the Managing Director of, is in talks with potential collaborators for producing some of the equipment in India. Dr Velu is also one of the promoters of Metropolis chain of diagnostic centres.

Mr Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner in Southern India, observed that the number of overseas patients visiting India for medical treatment had risen about 10 times to one lakh over the last five years.

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