Attention Hospitals! If Your Premises Are Unclean You Will Be Named And Shamed From 2019

Mumbai: In a bid to effectively incorporate the principle of ‘Swachh Bharat, Swastha Bharat’ and improve the overall sanitation status in hospitals, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced that it will name and shame hospitals under its ‘Kayakalp’ initiative from next year onwards. Names of the defaulter hospitals will be made public based on the negative feedback received from the patients through the ministry’s Mera Aspataal (My Hospital) App.

“From next year, we will not only name and award hospitals which perform very well under the Kayakalp initiative but will also name those health facilities which will not perform up to the mark on various parameters, including sanitation, waste management and infection control,” Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda said during a felicitation ceremony in Delhi.

Nearly 1,000 government hospitals are connected to the app where patients can raise issues of sanitation, waste management and help the government to fix the accountability.

“As part of ‘Mera Aspatal’ portal and mobile app, 1000 govt hospitals are connected. Patients can give feedback on various aspects of healthcare delivery including cleanliness, housekeeping, behavior etc,” said Mr Nadda.

Giving away awards to the hopsitals for its swachhta at the ‘Kayakalp’ programme, Minister Nadda said that public hospitals are no more perceived to be unclean. Issues like open flowing drains, animals roaming around with foul smelling dirty toilets were a thing of the past.

The ‘Kayakalp’ programme was launched by Health Ministry following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the people of the country to realise Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of Swachh Bharat (Clean India). It felicitates public health facilities, that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness as well as inculcate a culture of ongoing assessment and peer review of performance related to hygiene and sanitation.

“Kayakalp has been instrumental in inculcating a sense of ownership’ amongst all stake holders. This sense of ownership’ has translated into commitment for Swachhta,” he said.

Anupriya Patel, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Health), Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Dr. Promila Gupta, DGHS, were also present at the event.

“There is a sanitation revolution in rural India. Sanitation and cleanliness have become a ‘Jan Andolan’, closely connected with health,” said Mr Iyer.

Sharing similar views on the link between health and cleanliness, Ms Sudan said,

“Sanitation, cleanliness and waste management in health facilities are pre-requisites to all healthcare delivery protocols.”

The Health Ministers gave away the awards to the winners under various categories.

This Kayakalp event also signified the culmination of the Swachhata Pakhwada for year 2018 observed by the Ministry of Health from 1st April to 15th April.

Also Read: How Clean Water, Sanitation and Awareness About Hygiene Can Save Lives Of Children In India