Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute attains NABH Accreditation – A hallmark of excellence in patient safety & quality

One fine Monday afternoon, Amita Banerjee (name changed) entered Dr. Smita Shah’s (name changed) Dental OPD (Out Patient Department) at our Hospital. Her body language was tensed and her palms were sweaty. Amita being sensitive to pain feared being pricked by a needle to receive anaesthesia prior to her root canal treatment. After Amita took her position on the dental chair, Dr. Shah gave her the regular anaesthesia that she was non-allergic to, and had taken couple of times earlier for dental treatments in the past. Within two to three seconds of receiving anaesthesia, Amita blacked out. Her hands and legs fell lose, and she started breathing very fast. Few seconds later she lost awareness of what was happening around her and stopped breathing. Soon she felt as though she was losing control over herself and fell unconsciousness. On seeing all this Dr. Shah immediately instructed her assistant to announce ‘Code Blue’ i.e. Medical Emergency Code, on our Hospital’s intercom system. Within 30 seconds of making the announcement, the Code Blue Team (Medical Emergency Team) reached Dr. Shah’s Dental OPD to rescue Amita and brought her back to a stable condition within 5 minutes, and kept her under observation for an hour post which the dental treatment resumed.

Critical incidents like the Medical emergency stated above, can happen at any time with anyone – a patient, his/her relative, hospital staff, vendors or guests visiting the hospital. With the implementation of the NABH ‘Standards for Hospitals’ such critical incidents can be handled without delay and precision to save human lives.

What is NABH accreditation?

National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) is a constituent board of Quality Council of India, set up to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations. The board is structured to cater to much desired needs of the consumers and to set benchmarks for progress of health industry.

International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) has accredited “Standards for Hospitals” developed by NABH. The approval of ISQua authenticates that NABH standards are in consonance with the global benchmarks set by ISQua.

Globally it is found that patients are at high risk in those hospitals where patient safety guidelines and infection control protocols like hand hygiene are not followed. NABH accreditation ensures that the hospital follows all standards for patient safety and quality guidelines. E.g. Many lives have been saved in Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute due to the implementation of Emergency Codes for fire, disaster, medical emergencies, etc.

NABH accreditation of hospitals ensures that

• You receive quality healthcare as per global standards

• You can trust clinical care provided to you is evidence based

• You get care by credential staff (qualified and trained)

• Your rights are protected including redressal of grievances

Over the last ten years, since the inception of NABH India in 2006, out of approximately 50,000 hospitals functioning in the country today only 394 have attained the prestigious NABH accreditation.

NABH accreditation of Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute

Our Founder Acharya A. C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada often emphasised that health should be a key priority for all of us. In today’s age, everyone is talking about holistic health which means taking care of the needs of the body, mind and soul. This was the vision of Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute when it was founded 18 years ago.

With inspiration from and under the guidance of HH Radhanath Swami, the 80,000 sq. ft. Bhaktivedanta Hospital was established at Mira Bhayandar, a suburb near Mumbai, in 1998. Today, it is the only hospital in the whole of Maharashtra that provides its patients holistic healthcare services based on true awareness and understanding of the needs of the body, mind and soul. Recently, it achieved the hallmark of becoming an NABH accredited hospital offering world-class super speciality service.

Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute firmly believes in ensuring the safety of its patients and providing them with high quality of care. Keeping in line with its vision it embarked on the journey to get NABH accreditation a few years back. Complying with NABH standards is always an uphill task for any organisation but the entire team at the Hospital worked tirelessly to achieve the goal. After few years of hard work and dedication the Hospital attained NABH accreditation on July 3, 2016 and features 383^rd on the list of NABH accreditated hospitals in India. This clearly demonstrates how stringent the standards are, and testifies our commitment to establish a quality driven culture based on the world’s best healthcare quality standards.

Through the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada and the relentless efforts of a dedicated team, success became sweeter as Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute attained this prestigious accreditation during the 50th anniversary year of ISKCON.

We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to our patients, consultants, supporters, well-wishers and staff for their valuable contribution and support in achieving this milestone. Achieving continuous quality improvement is an ongoing process and we are committed to the same. We would like to receive your valuable feedback and kind support in improving patient safety and quality of care we. The real challenge is not to attain NABH accreditation but to maintain the same, and this will be possible only with your enthusiastic participation.

For more information on the list of NABH accredited hospitals, please visit: http://nabh.co/frmViewAccreditedHosp.aspx

For any query, please contact us at bvhri2015@gmail.com

Your servant,

Dr. Ajay Sankhe (Madhavananda Das)

Director – Bhaktivedanta Hospital & Research Institute.