Gujarat’s PHC that runs 24×7 first to get NABH accreditation

Gadhboriad,a tribal village in the interiors of Naswadi taluka,is a major health centre for a population of 32,000 people residing in 49 villages in its proximity. “It is a 24X7 PHC unit where over 70 to 80 deliveries are carried out every month and caters to over 50 patients every day. It gets patients from neighbouring districts as well who use its health services. With the accreditation,this will now be the model unit for Naswadi taluka,” said Dr Kunal Katrawat,Vadodara District Quality Assurance Officer.

The accreditation of the health care centre is done under the criteria of patient satisfaction,community satisfaction,employee satisfaction and environment protection.

“Over a decade back,the PHC here was in a very bad shape with leaky roofs and inadequate infrastructure. The condition was no better than that of a bus depot. If a patient had to be admitted,it was impossible for the patient and the relatives to spend a night over there. And for serious cases,we had to travel over 90 kilometres all the way to Vadodara. But because of the accreditation process,the scenario has changed,” said Sultan Diwan,a resident of Gadhboriad village.

The PHC at Gadhboriad is equipped with antenatal care unit,baby warmers,neonatal kits and other amenities for safe deliveries. “The Gadhboriad PHC has adequate staff and health workers who have been trained for various tasks. The PHC here meets the requirements of the NABH standards and we will further bring in more improvements,” said Dr Bhagwat Itare,the chief district health official.

After Gadhboriad,48 CHCs and 158 PHCs are in the queue to undergo accreditation process. “This is not the end to it. We expect that we will be able to provide quality health service and many more CHCs and PHCs can get accreditation in future. We have retained some of the best quality assurance officers to monitor the services,” said Dr Amarjit Singh,the Health Commissioner of the state.