Jharkhand Health Department Sets Ambitious Target for Universal NQAS Certification
In a significant push to strengthen public healthcare delivery, the Jharkhand health department has announced an ambitious target to ensure that all government-run health institutes across the state achieve certification under the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) by December this year. This initiative, revealed on the eve of World Health Day, represents a major commitment to elevating healthcare quality throughout the state.
Transforming Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
Department officials emphasized that this comprehensive move is strategically designed to improve the overall quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare services. The core objective is to ensure that patients receive scientific and standardized treatment consistently across all tiers of the public health system, including hospitals, community health centers (CHCs), and public health centers (PHCs).
Remarkable progress has already been made, with Jharkhand achieving NQAS certification for approximately 56% of its total 3,551 health centers by March. This marks a dramatic improvement from just one year prior, when only 8% of health centers were NQAS-certified by March of the previous year.
Official Commitment and Strategic Initiatives
Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Ajoy Kumar Singh stated that, inspired by last year's achievement, the department is now targeting 100% NQAS certification for all health centers by year's end. "To obtain NQAS certification, health centers must fulfill stringent criteria including quality patient treatment, enhanced hospital infrastructure, reliable medicine availability, proper biomedical waste disposal, hospital cleanliness, and numerous other parameters," Singh explained.
"Therefore, the department is intensively focusing on enabling all healthcare centers to achieve NQAS certification, with the ultimate goal of ensuring superior facilities for patients across every district of Jharkhand," he added.
Financial Support and Infrastructure Development
The health department has launched various initiatives to encourage hospital authorities to upgrade their facilities in preparation for NQAS certification. Over the past two years, multiple schemes have been implemented to provide substantial financial assistance to health centers at different levels:
- District hospitals receive yearly assistance of Rs 75 lakh
- Sub-divisional hospitals are allocated Rs 50 lakh annually
- Community Health Centers (CHCs) get Rs 10 lakh each year
- Public Health Centers (PHCs) receive Rs 5 lakh annually
- Ayushman Arogya Mandirs are provided Rs 2 lakh to improve their facilities
From Zero to National Recognition
Dr. Ranjit Prasad, State Nodal Officer (Quality Assurance) of the Jharkhand chapter of the National Health Mission, highlighted the transformative impact of these initiatives. "In 2023, there was not a single NQAS-certified health center in the entire state," he noted. "However, consistent efforts and repeated pushes from the department have now positioned Jharkhand as the third-ranked state in the country for securing NQAS certification for hospitals."
This remarkable turnaround demonstrates how focused policy implementation and adequate resource allocation can dramatically improve healthcare infrastructure and service quality within a relatively short timeframe.
