Scheme to improvesafety in hospitals

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM The hospitals in Kerala would now have a system for accreditation, the SAFE-I certification programme, that would be implemented by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) under the Quality Council of India and  a private medical company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) based in the US that sells medical devices.Kerala is the first state to open its doors to this public-private programme aimed at improving safety in hospitals.This certification by the public-private duo is expected to bring down hospital-acquired infections and improve quality in both  government as well as private hospitals in the state.The private partner, BD, is a global medical company based in New Jersey that has three business sectors- BD Medical, BD Diagnostics and BD Biosciences. BD Medicals is a leading provider of medical products such as syringes, needles, blood collection devices, IV catheters and surgical instruments.While the BD Diagnostics provides automated blood culturing system, rapid diagnostic assays, molecular testing system for sexually transmitted diseases, integrated system for specimen collection and so on, BD Biosciences manufactures lab products, cell sorters,  monoclonal antibodies, cell imaging systems and so on. BD India managing director Manoj Gopalakrishnan, at a press conference held here, said that SAFE-I would be a precursor to preparing healthcare organisations for NABH accreditation.