'We Have Taken The Bar On Quality & Standards Several Steps Higher With JCI'

After Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, it was Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad which acquired JCI accreditation. Managing Director Preetha Reddy spoke to Express Healthcare Management about the accreditation process and the benefits the hospital would accrue from accreditation

Why did you choose JCI and not any other accrediation?

Ever since our inception in 1983, as per our mission statement, we have been consciously striving to give our patients healthcare of highest quality. In this context, we thought it was time we benchmarked ourselves globally. JCI standards are very similar to our ideology. JCI very seriously addresses all the relevant concerns in healthcare organisations. They cover patients’ rights and responsibilities, patient safety, patient privacy, confidentiality of patient information, safe medication and infection control practices.

From operational point of view, they have covered building safety, fire safety, procurement of materials, preventive maintenance of equipment, water purity and uninterrupted power supply to key areas in the hospital.

When did the audit process start? Did you take help of any consultancy firm?

The audit process began on January 23, 2006 and got completed on Jan 28, 2006. We took the help of JCI's wing of Consultancy Services. We had a pre-assessment mock survey between October 31-November 04, 2005.

Did you constitute any special team for the job? If yes, how did they work?

There are eleven chapters in JCI standards. Governance and leadership issues were headed by MD, the chapters concerning medical issues were headed by Director Medical Services, the chapter on operational issues were headed by Senior GM (Operations) and management of information by the CEO. We had a core team consisting of about 90 staff members who contributed greatly. This team met everyday for minimum of one hour for nearly four months prior to the survey. Apart from this, we had daily meetings among the leaders.

Did Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals' experience in JCI help you?

Yes, it did.

How would JCI accrediation benefit your hospital?

We have taken the bar on our quality and standards several steps higher with JCI experience. We are extremely happy to deliver the best of care to our patients because our patients deserve the best. In addition, it has brought in a feeling of camaraderie amongst all levels of staff. A number of staff members got a chance to bring out their latent talents to the forefront. Many staff members felt they got recognised.

Which other Apollo Hospitals are in pipeline for JCI?

In the pipeline are Ludhiana, Dhaka, Colombo and Kolkata.

A lot of hospitals after acquiring accreditation do not work towards maintaining the standards. How would you ensure that you would not do that?

Definitely, we will continue to maintain the JCI standards because fundamentally it is to our advantage that we upkeep the standards. The systems and processes are so deeply linked with our actions, the work automatically gets done the JCI way. We have worked very hard to get JCI accreditation and we will work equally hard to maintain. JCI has become a way of life with us. In addition, we plan to do our own survey periodically in the same structured way.

How JCI benefits medical tourism?

We believe that Indians are second to none. India is going to become health capital very soon. In addition to having the best professionals, if our infrastructure is good and with best practices for infection control, automatically patients from other countries will come here. And our costs are better compared to Western countries.

Do you think that JCI accreditation will become more popular in the near future? Why?

JCI will become more popular because our people themselves will demand high standards and quality in healthcare organisations. Soon, every hospital will be compelled to go for some form of quality accreditation.