India’s national hospital accreditation programme- National Accreditation Board for Hospital (NABH), run and managed by the Quality Council of India, is going global. 55 hospitals of India have formally received NABH accreditation while another 365 have applied for it. Accreditation remains a voluntary process in India.
NABH will begin in the Philippines and plans to extend into Bangladesh and Nepal by the end of 2010, and into Sri Lanka in 2011. Future plans are to extend into Middle Eastern countries, starting off with the state of Dubai. NABH also sees African countries such as Kenya and Nigeria as logical future destinations, as Indian hospital chains see great potential in Africa. NABH has set up a separate division to look after its overseas operation, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) International.
The driver to service international hospitals is the expansion of large Indian hospital groups into subsidiaries or joint ventures in an increasing number of countries globally. Girdhar Gyani of NABH explains, "The vision to go global has been there for a while but the opportunity arose when hospital managements which already have NABH accreditation in India started demanding accreditation for their overseas hospitals as well. We are ready for competition from the American, Canadian and other international accreditation agencies which are already present in the targeted countries."
Hospitals have been complaining that international accreditors in a competitive market are too expensive and inflexible on costs. NABH say that a three-year accreditation from JCI in the Philippines costs close to $46,000, while a comparable NABH accreditation costs a little over half that amount. Although initially aimed at hospitals and clinics, NABH International will also offer accreditation to spas and wellness centres.
Through its exclusive Philippine representative, HealthCORE, NABH International has been launched to improve conditions, systems, processes, and skills of hospitals and professionals in the country. Dr. Sanjiv Malik of NABH says, "Accreditation is a practical solution to one of the main issues in medical tourism, which is quality and safety assurance. NABH International allows hospitals to build credibility and confidence, which generates recognition among foreign patients, thereby promoting medical tourism." The Department of Tourism (DoT) believes that accreditation is the key for medical tourism to truly flourish in the Philippines, as it will recognize the Filipino healthcare providers to be at par with world-class standards.
NABH International’s accreditation process entails onsite visits to assess if standards on access, care of patients, management of medication, patient rights, and infection control are met. Standards on continuous quality improvement, good governance, facility safety, human resources, and information management system are evaluated by highly qualified and well-trained assessors who are doctors, healthcare administrators, or nursing supervisors.
