Hospitals Overseas a global medical healthcare facilitator.

Quality care is priority
When an individual considering becoming a medical tourist how does he ensure that the overseas healthcare they are planning to access is as safe as possible and is of adequate quality? It is not simply a matter of looking at hospital buildings and at mattresses, and it is certainly not just an issue of looking only at the prices charged. While architecturally pleasing rooms and easier access to satellite television and the internet may improve personal comfort, and a bargain basement price may help the wallet, what is often more important may include such issues as:

the standards of governance in the hospital or clinic
the healthcare providing establishment’s commitment to self-improvement, and to learn positively from errors
the overall standards operating within the organization
the clinical staff’s ethical standards and their personal and collective commitment to caring for patients and the wider community
the quality of the clinical staff, including their background educational attainment and training, and evidence of continuing professional development by those staff
the quality and ethical standards of the management and their personal and collective commitment to caring for patients and the wider community
the clinical track record of the hospital or clinic
the infection control track record of the hospital or clinic
the hospital may be located in a country where the environment and climate may bring a patient into contact with infectious and/or tropical diseases that are unfamiliar to them
evidence of a robust, just and fair system to deal with complaints made by patients when things go wrong, as they inevitably will from time to time, and where appropriate to compensate the injured party in a fair and reasonable way

             The above list represents some of aspects of medical facilities. Intending medical tourist should also check whether or not a hospital is wholly accredited by an international accreditation group, or if it is only partly accredited (e.g. for infection control), the latter being less inclined to create confidence in a potential consumer.
              How does the person in the street access this type of quality information? This can be very difficult. Accreditation schemes well-recognized as providing services in the international healthcare accreditation field include:
Joint Commission International – JCI
             The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, known more commonly by its acronym, JCAHO or as The Joint Commission, is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 healthcare organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1951
              JCAHO’s Joint Commission International (JCI) was founded in the late 1990s to survey hospitals outside of the United States. JCI, which is also not-for-profit, currently accredits facilities in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. A January 2008 press release says that since 1999, JCI has accredited more than 140 hospitals in 27 countries.
             Information about the accreditation process, and international standards for different types of facilities are available on the JCI website. The JCI says the average cost in 2008 for an accreditation survey of a hospital is anticipated to be about US$41,000."

JCI Accredited Indian Hospitals

Indraprastha Apollo Hospital New Delhi, India

Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore, India

Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India

Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, India

Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata, India

Wockhardt Hospital, Bangalore, India

Wockhardt Hosiptal, Mumbai, India

Asian Heart Institute Mumbai , India

Fortis Hospital Mumbai , India Mumbai , India

Grewal Eye Institute Chandigarh, India

SatguruPartapSinghApolloHospital Punjab , India

Shroff Eye Hospital Mumbai, India

National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH)
             Accreditation is a public recognition of the achievement of accreditation standards by a healthcare organization, demonstrated through an independent external peer assessment of that organization's level of performance in relation to the standards.
            National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH)

             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 organizations. the board is structured to cater to much desired needs of the consumers and to set benchmarks for progress of health industry. The board while being supported by all stakeholders including industry, consumers, government, have full functional autonomy in its operation.
              Accreditation benefits all stake holders. Patients are the biggest beneficiary. Accreditation results in high quality of care and patient safety. The patients get services by credential medical staff. Rights of patients are respected and protected. Patient satisfaction is regularly evaluated.
             The staff in a accredited hospital are satisfied lot as it provides for continuous learning, good working environment, leadership and above all ownership of clinical processes.
             Accreditation to a hospital stimulates continuous improvement. It enables hospital in demonstrating commitment to quality care. It raises community confidence in the services provided by the hospital. It also provides opportunity to healthcare unit to benchmark with the best. Accreditation provides an objective system of empanelment by insurance and other third parties. Accreditation provides access to reliable and certified information on facilities, infrastructure and level of care.

Achievements & International Linkages,
             NABH is an institutional member of the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQUA). ISQUA is an international body which grants approval to Accreditation Bodies in the area of healthcare as mark of equivalence of accreditation program of member countries.

ISQua Accreditation of NABH Standard, India
             International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) has accredited “Standards for Hospitals” developed by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH, India ). The approval of ISQua authenticates that NABH standards are in consonance with the global benchmarks set by ISQua. The hospitals accredited by NABH will have international recognition This will provide boost to medical tourism.
             International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua ) is an international body which grants approval to Accreditation Bodies in the area of healthcare as mark of equivalence of accreditation program of member countries.
So far hospital standards of only 11 countries viz. Australia , Canada , Egypt , Hong Kong , Ireland , Japan , Jordan , Kyrgyz Republic , South Africa , Taiwan , United Kingdom were accredited by ISQua. India becomes the 12 th country to join in this group.

NABH Accredited Indian Hospitals