Under NIPS, govt will stress on patient safety at all hospitals across the country

Government is now taking strict actions for the patient safety at all hospitals across the country. With the help of National Initiative for Patient Safety (NIPS) promoted by Department of Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), efforts are being made to pinpoint the prevailing infection control processes being followed across the medical colleges and hospitals.

In order to assess the shortfall of patient safety and assist hospitals to take preventive steps, different steps are being taken. Different systems are getting used to sensitize hospital administration on medication management and surgical safety and patient communication.

Currently, there is no uniform data from across the country on patient safety. So, under the NIPS initiative, both private and public sector healthcare facilities to promote the culture of patient safety is being mobilised. This would also empower some of the participating healthcare institutions in becoming Centres of Excellence on patient safety.

According to World Health Organization estimates, 10% of patients suffer from poor safe practices followed in hospitals in the developed nations which have excellent facilities. Also, annually, millions of patients globally suffer disabling injuries or death due to unsafe medical care and Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI).

The magnitude of such harm is unknown in developing countries like India, mainly due to the limitations of surveillance mechanisms, infrastructure, technology and resources. So, BD is focusing on the elimination of Healthcare Associated Infections. In this regard, it is assisting healthcare organizations adopt infection control processes. It is already engaged in end-to-end infection control assessments for private sector healthcare facilities.