Proactive measures in preventing Hospital Fires during Summer Season
The Union Health Ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have issued a joint advisory to all States/ UTs underscoring the paramount importance of proactive measures in preventing Hospital fires as temperatures escalate during Summer season.
State Health Departments and State Disaster Management Authorities have been directed to work in close collaboration to ensure that all accredited hospitals within their jurisdiction take immediate action on the following:
a. Thorough Inspections b. Electrical Load Audits c. Fire NOC Compliance
A detailed set of instructions outlining the steps and measures to be undertaken by hospitals to ensure fire safety compliance have also been provided to Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, recommending them to disseminate the information among all accredited hospitals
Following are the instructions that need to be carried out to prevent occurrences of fire incidents in hospitals and other healthcare facilities
a. Regular inspection of Functional Fire-Fighting Systems b. Regular Maintenance and Testing c. Regular Electrical Load Audits d. Oxygen Safety e. Installation of Smoke Detectors and Fire Alarms f. Combustible Material Control g. Non-Combustible MateriaI for Electrical Ducts h. Avoid Overloading Power Sources i. Installation of Water Sprinklers and Hosepipes j. Strict Adherence to the National Building Code k.Obtaining Fire Safety NOC l. Staff Training and Drills m.Evacuation Plans
States/UTs have also been urged to conduct follow up reviews to ensure the implementation of these critical safety measures.
Guidance on Auditing Climate Change issues in ISO 9001
Climate change issues are one of many issues that organizations are to consider when analysing their internal and external context and determining requirements from customers and other relevant interested parties.
As part of ISO’s commitment to action on climate change, amendments to over 30 of ISO’s Management System Standards, including ISO 9001, have now been issued to include climate change considerations and the same is published on 23 February 2024.
Key points are given below:
The amendments include the determination of whether climate change is a relevant issue for the organization and the consideration of interested parties’ requirements related to climate change.
Emphasizes the need for auditors to maintain objectivity and neutrality when auditing climate change issues, focusing on assessing how organizations address climate change within their quality management systems
Provides guidance for auditing climate change issues impacting the quality management system and its intended results, outlining specific considerations and examples for auditors to evaluate
Furthermore, the document highlights the importance of addressing issues determined as relevant by the organization within the quality management system.
Presents non-exhaustive examples of questions and related aspects for auditors to assess how organizations are addressing climate change issues, including determining the scope of the quality management system, actions to address risks and opportunities, changes, resources, operations, and performance evaluation and improvement.
Underscores the need for auditors to evaluate if organisations have identified contractually agreed customer requirements or statutory and regulatory requqirements with climate change relevance and whether these are being acted upon.
Launch of Indian Foundation for Quality Management
A consortium of seven leading Indian companies have launched the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM), a Section 8 not-for-profit Company. IFQM is a unique institute dedicated to fostering a culture of quality and innovation within Indian businesses.
The initiative spearheaded by India Inc. viz. Tata Sons, TVS Motor Company, Sun Pharma, Motherson Group, Bharat Forge, Boeing India, and Biocon aims to propel the “Make in India” brand on the global stage.
IFQM will endeavour to equip business leaders with the latest knowledge and tools in quality management, connecting them to renowned global experts for personalized guidance, and facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among industry leaders. IFQM will provide support to organisations with specialized quality counsellors and bridge the gap between industry and academia to ensure access to cutting-edge research and insights.
IFQM’s governing council members besides Venu Srinivasan, N Chandrasekaran, and Dilip Shanghvi will include Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Baba Kalyani. T.V. Narendran, Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Salil Gupte and K.N. Radhakrishnan.
These founding members will be actively involved in IFQM’s governance ensuring its programs are tailored to the specific needs of Indian businesses. IFQM is designed to provide senior leadership in India with targeted counselling, training, coaching, and expert guidance.
The one-of-its-kind industry-led initiative will help improve the product and service quality and reliability of Indian businesses equipping them to compete more effectively on the global stage and build supply chain resilience. The aim is to reinforce the “Made in India” brand in international markets, thereby stimulating trade expansion.
Enhanced competitiveness will lead to economic growth and overall prosperity for the people of India.
Smart Hospitals Conference 2024 @ Mumbai on 15th March 2024
Smart Hospitals Platform is created to help Business Owners of Small and Midsized Hospitals, Daycare Centers, Clinics etc. LEARN to MANAGE their businesses, in alignment with changing market needs and business scenarios.
Conference this year is designed to create conversations on Growth Opportunities for Healthcare Businesses and Investments the sector is attracting over last few years.
Conference Theme :
Indian Healthcare Services – A Decade Of GROWTH 🡅 Forecast – SMART GROWTH Enablers
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 :
A Decade Of Growth Forecast For Healthcare
Indian Healthcare Space has been witnessing a strong GROWTH surge over the last 2-3 years, especially in Tier 1 and 2 Cities in the country. Demand for Quality Healthcare is on the rise and this market need is driving heavy flow of Private Equity Investments into the sector over the last 2-3 years.
Industry Reports say in Indian metros total bed density remains largely uncapitalised and for Quality beds there is a demand-supply gap of 20-30 per cent.
Tier 1 and 2 cities are where a large part of India’s GDP growth is going to happen and they will become a very important growth engine of this healthcare market. Providers of Services prefer to be in the markets where the market needs are not met.
Indian Healthcare Services – 5 Strong Pillars of Growth
Services Growth will be driven by the Convergence of following sub domains providing care delivery through multiple channels :
– Hospitals – Home Care – Diagnostics – Health Insurance – Digital Health
ENABLERS for GROWTH for each sub domain may vary . SMART Hospitals Conference will have speakers discussing about the much needed ENABLERS to Drive the Growth.
Opportunity for Healthcare Service Providers across the spectrum from Tier 1,2,3,4 and 5 cities to join the session and Listen to Experts Opinions, Views on the SMART Growth Enablers that will drive the Sectoral Growth over the next decade.
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 ?
📅 Date: 15th March 2024 – Friday ⏲ Time: 10 00 am – 5 00 pm 🌆 Venue: Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai
𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 ?
Promoters of Hospitals / Other Healthcare Service Organizations (Micro, Small, Medium and Large Organizations) , Medical Professionals / Practitioners , Administrators, Management / Operations Teams, Marketing Teams, Managerial Teams, Technology Teams , Startups, Innovators, HealthTech, MedTech, Digital Health Companies , Investors , Academic Institutions , Innovators, Nursing Professionals, Paramedical Teams, Health Insurers, TPAs, Management Consultants, Finance Professionals and other stakeholders
Workshop on ISO 20658 – 2023. ISO 20658:2023 is a technical specification (TS) that defines the requirements for the collection, transport, receipt, and handling of samples for medical laboratories
The ISO 20658:2023 is an essential resource for all healthcare professionals and medical institutions
Who Can Attend ?
Laboratory professionals : Pathologists, Microbiologists, Bio chemist, Phlebotomist Customer care managers and Quality managers
Program Details :
Date : April 20, 2024 Venue: 8th Floor Auditorium, Kauvery Hospital, Vadapalani, Chennai Mode : In Person Training (Interactive sessions with case based learning) Fee – Rs 2000 per delegate
Addendum to NABL 112 document in respect of ISO 15189:2022 version
ISO 15189:2022 is an international standard that specifies the requirements for quality and competence in medical lab environments. It is a standard that requires labs to develop a robust, reliable quality management system (QMS) to establish their competence.
This standard promotes the welfare of patients and satisfaction of laboratory users.
NABL 112 is a Specific Criteria for Accreditation of Medical Laboratories, prepared by a Technical Committee, which is aligned as per ISO 15189: Medical laboratories- Requirements for Quality & Competence
NABl has released the addendum document to NABL 112. Table specifying the applicability of this document to different clauses of ISO 15189:2022 are given below
ISO 15189: 2022 Requirement
Refer NABL 112 Issue No. 4 Requirements
5.1 Legal entity 5.2 Laboratory Director
Page No. 10 – Organization and management responsibility
6.7 Service agreements Agreement with laboratory users Agreement with POCT operators
Page No. 11 – Service Agreements
6.8.2 Referral laboratories and consultants 6.8.3 Review and approval of externally provided products and services
Page No. 11 – 4 Examination by referral laboratories
5.3.3 Advisory activities
Page No. 12 – Advisory services
8.4 Control of records Creation of records Amendment of records Retention of records
Page No. 13 – Control of records
8.8 Evaluations
Page No. 14 – Evaluation and audits
6.2 Personnel
5.1 Personnel
6.3 Facilities and environmental conditions
5.2 Accommodation and environmental conditions
6.4 Equipment Equipment requirements Equipment acceptance procedure Equipment instructions for use Equipment adverse incident reporting Equipment records
6.5 Equipment calibration and Metrological traceability
6.5.2 Equipment Calibration
6.6 Reagents and consumables Receipt and storage Acceptance testing Inventory Management Instructions for use Adverse Incident Reporting
5.3 Laboratory equipment, reagents and consumables
7.2 Pre-examination processes Primary Sample collection and handling Sample transportation Sample receipt Pre-examination handling, preparation and storage
5.4 Pre-examination processes
7.2 Examination processes Verification of examination methods Validation of examination methods Evaluation of Measurement Uncertainty Biological reference interval and clinical decision limits Documentation of examination procedures
5.5 Examination processes
7.3.7 Ensuring the validity of examination results Internal quality Control External quality assessment Comparability of examination results
5.6 Ensuring quality of examination results
7.3 Post examination processes Reporting of results Post-examination handling of samples
5.7 Post examination processes
7.4.1 Reporting of results Critical result reports Special considerations for results Automated selection, review, release and reporting of results Requirements of reports Amendments to reported results
5.8 Reporting of results
7.4.1.2 Result review and release
5.9 Release of results
7.6 Control of data and information management Authorities and responsibilities for Information management Information Systems management Downtime plans Off site management
NABH has released an important notice on January 4,2024 on Fee Remittance by all applicant / Accredited / Certified Health Care Organisations under all programs of NABH
Many Healthcare Organisations associated with NABH are still making direct payment to accounts of Quality Council of India – NABH. Due to this, NABH is facing difficulty in reconciling the amounts received directly as the details of payment are also not updated by the respective HCOs in their online portal.
To avoid unnecessary wastage of time and manpower in tracking the payments, NABH advises its stakeholders to make payments only through the online portal using the Payment Gateway so that the payments are appropriately tracked for convenience of all the parties
To facilitate the Healthcare Organisations to reconcile the fee payment status, NABH has requested all the HCOs to follow the below steps with immediate effect:
The HCOs are advised to login into their HCO account on the NABH portal for making payments through payment gateway via credit card/debit card/net banking.
In no case HCOs shall deposit cash/cheque/DD directly into any of the accounts of Quality Council of India.
In case the HCO has no other option but Bank Transfer (NEFT/RTGS), the payment shall be made after seeking approval from NABH secretariat. It shall be the responsibility of HCO to update the transaction details like Unique Transaction Reference (UTR) Number, Date of Transaction, Transaction Amount, etc on the NABH Portal under the Make Payment category and inform NABH that the Payment was done and get the receipts generated for the payments made.
The HCOs are also requested to ensure that the payment details with respect to fee payments of current and previous accreditation cycles have been updated on the NABH portal account of the HCO, if not done earlier.
Non updation of fee payment details on the portal may result into non-credit of the amounts and the HCO may be liable for adverse decision and repayment as per rules.
All HCOs are to ensure that no direct offline payments are made to any account of Quality Council of India (QCI)
Notice issued by NABH is given below for reference:
NABH announced that QCI and all its boards are introducing an innovative solution for addressing the queries & concerns promptly and transparently through “Quality Setu”, an integrated QCI portal designed to streamline the NABH helpdesk/complaints redressal process.
Quality Setu is a unified platform for all boards & divisions of QCI that will bridge and synergize the flow of information for its users.
It will also assist users to search for information regarding various schemes, certifications, accreditations, assessments, trainings and other projects, administered or run by the Boards & Divisions of QCI.
Quality Setu will also act as a single-window for all queries & concerns where users can track online, the progress of their engagement with the respective Board and Division, in their personalized section through the app or its portal
The system also has an AI-based Chatbot that guides users in their search and also assist them in resolving their queries and concerns in quick time.
From January 1, 2024, onwards, all queries and concerns pertaining to NABH will be exclusively addressed through the “Quality Setu” portal. This transition is aimed at enhancing efficiency, speedy resolution and ensuring a seamless experience for our stakeholders.
Please access the “Quality Setu” portal using the following website link Website link: https://qualitysetu.qcin.org
NHA has published a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Guidance Document for ABDM Compliant HMIS/LMIS Version 4.0
The document outlines the features which are recommended to be included in digital health solutions for a Clinic MIS, Hospital MIS, Lab MIS and Pharmacy MIS
Training program on ISO 7101:2023 organised by QAI
Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI) is organising a program on Documentation Implementation Verification Elevation (DIVE) Program on ISO 7101:2023 (E) covering Healthcare organization management – Management systems for quality in healthcare organizations – Requirements
Program Details are given below :
Date: 16-17 December 2023 Location: New Delhi (On-Site) Time: 09:00 AM – 05:00 PM Rs.10000+18% GST (inaugural offer, std. rate Rs. 15000+18% GST) Last Date to apply: 30 November 2023
