Healthcare a basic right: Vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Preetha Reddy

CHENNAI: There is an increasing emphasis on delivering high quality healthcare system in India despite the sector being largely unregulated, said Preetha Reddy, executive vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals on Saturday.She was speaking at the inauguration of the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO)’s two-day conference on quality healthcare.“Quality healthcare is the fundamental right of all citizens,” she said adding that India is becoming a hot-spot for medical tourism primarily because the quality of healthcare is growing. She, however, remarked that involvement of private players translates to larger accountability.

“This increasing focus on quality is helping it achieve greatness and excellence in a situation where its (private) practices are coming under heavy scrutiny by the government and the media, unlike, say, the education sector,” she added.Every level of the healthcare system must be audited thoroughly, said K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). “Every parameter, including mortality and morbidity, must be recorded in all hospitals and must be used as a part of quality assessment,” he said.

Pointing the Sustainable development Goals (SDG) proposed by the United Nations, he said in order to achieve universal healthcare for all by 2030, a radical transformation must be brought to the quality assessment system. “The system must be designed to deliver good care consistently,,” he said speaking at the conference.More than 600 national and international delegates, including healthcare leaders and policy makers, are attending the two-day conference.