JAMMU: Secretary Health and Medical Education, Bhupinder Kumar, today chaired a meeting to review and discuss the action plan for strengthening District Hospitals as per Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), 2022.
Pertinently, IPHS is a set of standards that provide a uniform benchmark to assess the quality and functionality of public health facilities. It was first framed in 2007 and then revised in 2012 followed by another revision in 2022. These standards provide guidance on the infrastructure, human resource, drugs, diagnostics, equipment, quality, and governance requirements for delivering quality health services to all citizens with dignity.
In an effort to improve the quality of services, National Health Mission J&K in collaboration with Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) has taken the initiative to conduct a rapid baseline assessment of all DHs and CHCs as per IPHS 2022.
During the meeting, Secretary had a detailed review regarding the findings of the baseline assessment of District Hospitals and the action plan for their strengthening. He sought inputs on the subject and discussed various interventions with the stakeholders for filling the identified gaps in different areas at the earliest so as to make these hospitals IPHS compliant.
Secretary asked the Directors of Health Services, Jammu and Kashmir to cross-check the findings of the assessment with respect to Human Resource, Equipment/Instruments, Drugs and Diagnostics, Infrastructure, and other areas and submit the proposals for the next financial year as per the actual gaps in District Hospitals.
In addition, Secretary laid emphasis on the implementation of the Quality Assurance program and directed the concerned to conduct quarterly internal assessments, identify gaps and prepare time-bound facility-wise action plans for filling the gaps. This will ensure that all the remaining District Hospitals are prepared for achieving various quality certifications like NQAS, LaQshya, MusQan, and Kayakalp in a time-bound manner to improve service delivery quality.
In order to further strengthen the District Hospitals in terms of Human Resource and equipment, the Directors and Chief Medical Officers besides Medical Superintendents have been asked to apply for DNB courses at all the eligible District Hospitals.
