Safety Standards and Accreditation in India’s Leading Cosmetic Surgery Hospitals

Patient safety is an integral part of world-class Healthcare and every international patient factors this in while deciding on a hospital for their Treatment. Even a minor and non-invasive procedure must follow safety standards to ensure zero side effects or harm to patients. For cosmetic Surgeries, it becomes more important to follow safety standards to avoid future complications. 

This article discusses why safety standards and Accreditations are important and how the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India maintain their safety standards. 

What are the safety standards followed in India’s healthcare industry?

The purpose behind setting safety standards is to ensure that the service provider adheres to a given Benchmark in terms of safety for patients, employees, and other stakeholders engaged in service delivery. Usually, in India and many other countries, government agencies set these standards in consultation with industry veterans. The purpose of accreditation is to vet service providers and ensure that they meet the standards.

Some of the key safety standard accreditations followed in the healthcare industry are as follows:

1.   Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards

This is a standard that every employer must follow to ensure the occupational safety of employees. Any incident because of noncompliance with OSHA standards is incriminating for employers. This safety code is relevant in North America, Europe and in any of the Best Cosmetic Surgery Hospitals in India. Though it is specifically meant to safeguard employees, hospitals and healthcare facilities following OSHA codes are inherently safe for patients.

The components of the OSHA safety codes are:

• Blood-borne Pathogens Standard: The purpose is to safeguard healthcare workers from exposure to HIV, hepatitis and similar blood-borne pathogens.
• Hazard Communication Standard: It takes care of compulsory labeling of hazardous chemicals and clear communication to workers handling such materials in healthcare and other workspaces.
• Personal Protective Equipment: This is related to mandatory access to and use of PPE to minimize physical exposure to health hazards at a workplace.
• Safe Patient Handling: It deals with awareness building, training and skills development of healthcare workers to maintain safety and prevent musculoskeletal injuries while lifting patients manually.

This is a set of guidelines established by the World Health Organization to control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) in India includes these guidelines as part of their accreditation criteria. So, any of the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India follow infection control standards.

Essential components of infection control are:

• Hand Hygiene Compliance: The best cosmetic surgeons in India follow this CDC and WHO-approved handwashing technique before performing every surgical procedure or while inspecting patients physically.
• Sterilization and Disinfection: This protocol ensures that hospitals conduct sterilization and disinfection of medical instruments and surgical environments before and after every procedure.
• Air Quality Standards: This helps prevent airborne diseases within hospital environments and minimizes risks to patients of getting infected with airborne infections. Common airborne infections are flu and tuberculosis.

2.   Medication Safety Standards

Medication Management Guidelines: This is an integral part of NABH accreditation criteria, and it establishes a system that ensures safe storage, dispensation and administration of prescribed medicines. It also covers steps doctors must follow to maintain safety while prescribing medicines, like clear written instructions mentioning appropriate dosage, etc.

3.   Patient Safety Standards

NABH also covers patient safety standards related to patient rights and patient education, fall prevention, facility safety, and patient identification standards. As part of public healthcare regulations, any of the best hospitals for plastic surgery in India follow these standards.  

Accreditations of the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India

Several accreditations exist in the healthcare industry across the world. However, any top hospital’s choice of accreditation depends on various factors.

For example, the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India treating international patients from North America prefer JCI. It is an accreditation standard maintained by The Joint Commission, a non-profit based in the USA. Similarly, hospitals that are mostly serving patients from EU member countries prefer the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua).

International patients from the CIS region primarily follow ISQua and other globally accepted accreditations like DNV, ISO9001, and WHO guidelines.

Along with region-specific and international accreditations, every one of the super-specialty hospitals and the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India mandatorily gets accredited by NABH. It’s a hospital and healthcare facility accreditation board maintained by the Quality Council of India (QCI) under the direct oversight of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Government of India. Along with hospitals, the top cosmetic surgeons in India also follow NABH guidelines as part of their everyday patient care.

The Bottomline

Be it cosmetic surgeries or other treatment procedures, following patient safety standards is an essential part of patient care. The Government of India, as part of trade promotion, strictly ensures that hospitals engaged in medical tourism follow safety standards and get accredited mandatorily. So, even if you’re a stickler for safety, plastic surgery, or other aesthetic procedures, the best cosmetic surgery hospitals in India are reliable.