Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], January 21 (ANI/NewsVoir): Dr Atul Kochhar, CEO of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) and Ashish Jain, CEO of Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding today aimed at recognition of HSSC certification for NABH accreditation; develop training programs for Skilling, Reskilling and Upskilling required for healthcare professionals. The collaboration will help achieving the goal of enhancing healthcare quality in the country. The MoU was signed in the august presence of Dr Selvakumar I.A.S, Secretary, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka and Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Healthcare Sector Skill Council.

Dr Atul Kochhar, CEO, NABH added, "Our partnership with HSSC will assist us in further strengthening the entire ecosystem of patient safety and healthcare delivery. Over the years, NABH standards have brought paradigm shift in delivering healthcare services and it has helped in sensitizing heath care workers about their responsibilities. However, a country as diverse as India, growing at an unprecedented rate, requires many professionals who are skilled, continuously reskilling and upskilling. Today, our overall medical professional count per 1000 patients is much below than WHO standards across doctors, patients and para medics category. This partnership will also help us in exploring solutions and addressing this gap."

Ashish Jain, CEO HSSC, briefed that HSSC collaboration with NABH will facilitate better placement and apprenticeship opportunities for HSSC certified healthcare professionals across the country inline with vision of the Prime Minister and the objective of Skill India Mission under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. HSSC works closely with industry and academia to create a skills eco-system in the healthcare sector, which helps in development of skilled and work ready professionals as required by the industry.

Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Healthcare Sector Skill Council in his message said, that Skills form the most important pillar of effective healthcare delivery system across the world. HSSC - NABH partnership sets the path for recognition of skills for enhancing healthcare quality and patient safety. I hope this collaboration between HSSC & NABH would lead to an inevitable and essential shift in terms of recognition of skills, practical oriented training, and enhanced placement opportunities for certified healthcare professionals. This will have a major impact in better accessibility and early intervention in healthcare delivery in India.

Dr Alexandar Thomas, President, AHPI and Chairman, HSSC Karnataka instrumental in bringing HSSC and NABH together for this significant pact, in his message, conveyed that the push for safety and quality of healthcare that AHPI is driving with get a big boost with the upskilling from HSSC receiving recognition from NABH. The clinical outcomes are bound to improve and healthcare delivery better with skilled health workforce trained under HSSC filling the missing gaps in caregiving.

This landmark initiative is envisaged to provide impetus to quality training, skilling, creating placement opportunities for skilled healthcare workforce leading to enhanced quality of healthcare for patients.

Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) is a National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) recognized awarding body working under the ambit of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), GoI, constituted by CII, NSDC & key leading healthcare providers, pharmaceuticals, medical device industry, diagnostics, and associations from both public & private. The Council is aimed to develop Qualifications, learning Resources, training programs, assessment and certification mechanism for Skilling, Reskilling and Upskilling of professionals, facilitate placement and Apprenticeship opportunities.

National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) is a constituent board of Quality Council of India, set up to establish and operate accreditation program for healthcare organizations. The board is structured to cater to much desired needs of the consumers and to set benchmarks for progress of health industry. The board while being supported by all stakeholders including industry, consumers, government, have full functional autonomy in its operation.

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