Dr Atul Mohan Kochhar, CEO, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) emphasis the need for continuous learning from the pandemic and bats big on tech adoption.

The key lesson that can be drawn from the Covid-19 pandemic is that all resources have to be shared and SOPs need to be spelt out, said Dr Atul Mohan Kochhar, CEO, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), at the second edition of Elets Digital Health Conclave held with a theme ‘Reimagining Healthcare with Technology’.

“There were so many key learning from this entire madness, which has been prevailing for nearly two years now. Every parameter and every paradigm has been stretched and redefined. The key lessons are that all resources have to be shared and we need SOPs. NABH is very proud to touch in a small or a big way about 12, 000 hospitals like we have full hospital accreditation catering to about 12,000 to 15,000 hospitals in various stages of accreditation. We have smaller programmes of certification touching 7,000 hospitals and CGHS and ECHS; they also, by and large, follow a certain well-defined checklist. So, I can unhesitatingly comment that these hospitals which were used to following certain drills, norms or standards of infection control or even for basic hand hygiene, etc, have performed better,” said Dr Kochhar.

Underscoring the need for SOPs, he said, “In today’s world, we need certain SOPs in healthcare, which may be the basic patient safety, goals defined by the WHO for hand hygiene, surgical site safety, and communication.” On learning, Dr Kochhar added, “We are keenly guided every day by our partner hospital by their new suggestions and experiences drafted into our newsletter. So, I think the world is still at a learning stage and as we go the pandemic is still taking shape and there is still a very real threat of the future waves of the innumerable mutants and the vaccine hesitancy. Amidst all these, the core area which is going to redefine the future is technology, which has come to the centre stage. Technology is a boon; it is a low hanging fruit and whatever cliche you may want to use but this is the time for a country of our size, population and diversity, technology can only bridge the gap between different tiers of cities.”

Dr Atul Mohan Kochhar also noted that new-age technology such as the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence is a promising technology that can transform the country’s healthcare sector. “We need to find ways and means to explore how these technologies can serve the last person in the line, and in remote areas.”

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