Government introduces virtual platforms for evaluating quality of healthcare facilities.

On Friday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced virtual systems to assist in issuing quality certifications for healthcare facilities, overseeing compliance with healthcare delivery standards, and enhancing the business process for food vendors.

The new systems consist of launching a virtual assessment for certification of National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs Sub-Centres (AAM-SCs), a revised dashboard for enforcing Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) in healthcare facilities, and a quick license service for food vendors.

Aradhana Patnaik, additional secretary and mission director of the National Health Mission (NHM), mentioned that over 140,000 sub-centers will be assessed through the new virtual NQAS assessment for AAM-SCs, replacing the physical previous evaluations that required more time and resources.

She mentioned that approximately 10 % of virtually evaluated sub-centers will be chosen at random for an on-site assessment to verify the presence of quality standards.

The new dashboard will assess how well healthcare facilities in the country follow IPHS guidelines. Launched in 2007 and regularly revised, with the most recent update in 2022, the standards establish quality standards for public health facilities ranging from primary to secondary healthcare facilities.The ministry also published NQAS guidelines for district hospitals' Integrated Public Health Laboratories (IPHL).