A book on quality healthcare for all was released in commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of KG Hospital in Coimbatore on Friday. From left, Chairman of KG Hospital G. Bakthavathsalam; Minu Bajpai, Vice-President and Honorary Executive Director, National Board Of Examinations In Medical Sciences; Girdhar Gyani, Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers (India), New Delhi;
Mahesh Verma, Chairperson, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers, New Delhi, and Hospital Managing Trustee Ashok Bakthavatsalam.
| Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M
Towards enhancing quality into medical studies through technology-integration, programmes based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be initiated shortly, Minu Bajpai, Vice-President and Honorary Executive Director, National Board of Examinations In Medical Sciences (NBEMS) said in Coimbatore on Friday.
Citing a survey by Elsevier Publishing Services on healthcare deficit, Prof. Bajpai said the NBEMS was in consultation with the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and other IITs for offering two-year programmes for medical graduates that would include one year of study in these technology institutions, which, he observed, were among the best in the world.
Addressing the Golden Jubilee celebrations of KG Hospital and Post Graduate Medical Institute, Coimbatore, Prof. Bajpai also mooted bed-pooling by hospitals (government-government, government-private and private-private) for scaling up the intake for PG programmes through joint accreditation.
The NBEMS was also working towards commissioning an app developed by Tata Consultancy Services to pave way for blended learning and flipped classroom models for students, utilising smart phones, factoring in the realities of inadequacy of clinical knowledge transmitted through conventional classroom learning, and absenteeism by students.
As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations, a Robotic Surgery machine worth ₹ 10 crore was commissioned by Mahesh Verma, Chairperson, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health Care Providers, New Delhi; Girdhar Gyani, Director General, Association of Healthcare Providers (India), New Delhi, and Prof. Bajpai, in the presence of KG Hospital Chairman G. Bakthavathsalam and Managing Trustee Ashok Bakthavatsalam.
A group of doctors mentored by Dr. Bakthavathsalam presented him with ‘Ikigai’ (a Japanese concept that mens your ‘reason for being’) Award for healing, citing the treatment provided for 85 lakh patients at the hospital and through outreach medical camps over the 50-year period.
The Association of Healthcare Providers (India) has been taking initiatives to bridge disparity of beds in hospitals State-wise, Dr. Girdhar Gyani said in his address. Against the national average of 1.4 beds per 1,000 population, the proportion was two in Tamil Nadu and three in Kerala, where as it was only .29 in Bihar. To attain the target of 3.5 beds per 1,000 population, the national average has to be increased by 2.5 times, Dr. Girdhar said.
Commending the growth of KG Hospital from being a 10-bedded facility in 1974, Dr. Mahesh Verma pointed out that while healthcare was evolving, the perceptible erosion in professional commitment has to be stemmed for meeting the standards of safety and quality.