1 in 10 Patients Harmed While Receiving Hospital Care – WHO

The advent of a single Pandemic of COVID-19,has caused a huge stir in the healthcare segment. The importance of precision in patient-care is always important, however, the pandemic has added another dimension i.e. precision in ‘emergency and mass level patient-care’. The focus on emergency response with high quality patient-care is need of the hour and needs to be abided by the whole healthcare fraternity. The Pandemic has brought patient families, caregivers and healthcare workers together, driving need for collective solution building for effective patient-care. According to a report that was generated by PharmaEasy, each year more than 2 lakh people die from preventable medical errors.IIHMR University, Jaipur, which is known to be a leader in Healthcare Management and Research, solicits to promote ‘World Patient Safety Day’ which is celebrated every year on the 9th of December.

Dr. PR Sodani, President (Officiating), IIHMR University says, “The whole world has been undergoing a tremendous shift due to the occurrence of the pandemic. What needs to be focused on patient-care is the need for responsive, precise and affordable patient-care services. Government initiatives in offering healthcare services are appreciable but now the time is for creating collective stakeholders’ efforts in promoting Patient-Care 2.0 which combines facilities, expertise, resources, innovations and moreover, the passion to serve patients for ‘total wellbeing and care.” Citing ‘Outlook of India’s Healthcare Industry 2020’ report, he added that, “TheBiosimilars market in India is expected to cross $0.9 billion by 2020. The report clearly states that the Telehealth market which is worth $450.1 million is likely to grow by CAGR 21% till 2026.”

Patient care has been given the main focus post pandemic hence e-healthcare services are on the go. The healthcare sector has been promoting and adopting e-healthcare services through National Health Portal, Online Registration System, E-Hospitals Etc. What is even more enticing is the National Digital Health Mission which has been promoted and initiated by the Government of India to create health cards for all across the nation.

Dr. AnubhavSukhwani, Chief Administrative Officer, Shalby Hospital, Jaipur said, “Patient care in the COVID Era has seen a vast change and how the hospital used to function.Focus on infection control practices have taken a front seat in all operations of the hospital whether it is a simple hand hygiene practice or handling a COVID patient. Earlier the medical team used to focus on symptoms and its treatment but that has now changed in COVID into a more holistic approach which includes psychological counselling, general wellbeing and more targeted nutritional awareness among patients for enhancing immunity to fight the disease effectively and swiftly. Also a major role has been defined towards following better lifestyle practices with yoga, meditation and exercise. Major focus on safety and security of doctors and employees in the front line with extreme sharp monitoring of the operational guidelines has been implemented.”

Shalby Hospital, Jaipur is a front runners for treating Covid patients and have designed a Standard Operating protocol for all areas to provide uninterrupted patient care in the best and safest possible manner.It’s been 7 months that the hospital has been treating patients and has increased bed capacity to be able to help government in the battle against COVID. Dedicated doctors and staff round the clock with dedicated floors in the hospital, isolated passages and lifts for COVID and non COVID patients, creation of New hospital Codes to ensure no cross infection, yoga and recreational activities for patients, special OPD services, Homecare and running Flu clinic, diagnostic and pathological tests since the starting are few initiatives taken by our team with side by side running normal operations of the hospital.

Dr. Sodani, President (Officiating), IIHMR University feels that the major focus should now be on need of timely collection of data. As of now most of the data that is collected pertaining to the healthcare needs to be collated and should also be segregated with the help of Data Analytics in Healthcare. With timely information on patients available to the entire healthcare fraternity and institutions would work wonders for the public healthcare industry on the whole.