Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, has become the first superspeciality hospital in South Asia to achieve accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), USA. JCI is the gold standard in global healthcare standards. With this, Wockhardt Hospitals joins an exclusive group of 71 hospitals worldwide, which have passed JCI’s stringent clinical quality standards. JCI is the international arm of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations, which evaluates quality standards of US hospitals.

“Clinical excellence has been Wockhardt Hospitals’ passion and preoccupation all along,” said Habil Khorakiwala, Wockhardt Hospitals chairman. “We have always pursued what is best for the patient. We have been able to attract world class doctors who share this vision, helping us set up new benchmarks in clinical care. The JCI accreditation is a recognition of our commitment to clinical excellence,” he said.

The JCI accreditation follows a rigorous onsite evaluation of Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai by an international surveyor team of healthcare experts in August this year.

“Healthcare organisations around the world want to create environments that focus on quality, safety and continuous improvement,” said Karen Timmons, JCI’s chief executive officer, in a message. “The patient community worldwide should be proud that Wockhardt Hospitals in India has made a commitment to quality and safety.”

Andrew Jeon, chief operating officer of Harvard Medical International (HMI), Wockhardt’s partner, said HMI was pleased to have worked with Wockhardt towards getting the JCI accreditation. “The accreditation process requires a hospital to comply with almost 1,300 measurable standards. Wockhardt is the only HMI-associate outside the US to win this recognition,” he said.

Quality Initiatives

JCI standards and evaluation methods are developed by healthcare experts from around the world and tested in various countries. They are created to provide a framework for risk reduction and are focused on creating a culture of patient safety. JCI assesses the quality of patient care from the time a patient enters a facility to discharge, and utilises the data to plan and implement changes that create optimal care.

“Over the last 18 months, our clinical and administrative teams have set high standards in various areas to upgrade our processes of clinical care and service delivery to become eligible for JCI accreditation,” Dr. Lloyd Nazareth, general manager, Wockhardt Hospitals at Mulund, said.

The hospital’s initiatives included creation of medical staff bye-laws to monitor skill sets and training of medical personnel, care pathways for surgeries, clinical guidelines and protocols for care in ICU and emergency areas. The goal was to ensure that treatment protocols are standardised. Every resident doctor had to complete certified training in basic life support, advanced cardiac and trauma life support. Wockhardt Hospitals has become a centre where national trauma management programmes are held.

The hospital has established protocols, drills and audits for safe intra-hospital and inter-hospital transfer of patients and similar procedures for infection control and patient safety. Wockhardt is participating in a quarterly global study, which monitors infection rates across leading hospitals of the world.

Wockhardt Hospitals vice president Vishal Bali said the JCI accreditation is just another major milestone in Wockhardt Hospitals’ quest for excellence and innovation in patient care. “To us, quality is not a sprint but a marathon,” he said. Wockhardt now joins the ranks of well-known Harvard affiliated hospitals like Massachusetts General, Brigham & Women and Joslin Diabetes Center, which have the coveted accreditation, Bali said.

Innovations in Cardiology

Over the years, Wockhardt Hospitals has become a global centre of excellence in cardiac care. Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute (WHHI), Bangalore, has achieved global recognition as a pioneer in innovative cardiac surgery techniques to help patients who are often termed inoperable. These innovations have saved over 400 lives. WHHI’s team of cardiac surgeons has contributed to over 100 articles in professional medical journals on novel procedures they have popularised and are the faculty of choice in live workshops and continuing medical education programmes the world over. WHHI has an arrangement with hospitals in leading cities in China to train Chinese cardiac surgeons in beating heart and awake beating heart surgeries.

WHHI is the first hospital in Australasia region to perform minimally invasive beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery. It is the first hospital in the world to perform conscious off pump coronary artery bypass surgery (COPCAB). It was also India’s first heart hospital to achieve ISO 9002 certification. Last month, it set another benchmark in heart surgery by successfully performing an awake minimally invasive heart valve repair surgery (AMIHVRS) on a 49-year-old woman in Bangalore.

Due to its reputation for excellence in cardiac surgery, patients from Europe and Africa have been flying to Bangalore for treatment by WHHI’s team of cardiac surgeons led by Dr. Vivek Jawali.

Pioneering Hip Resurfacing

Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai is one of the few hospitals in India to offer hip resurfacing, a new technique that is superior to hip replacement. Hip resurfacing is less invasive, preserves healthy bone and enables the patient to spring back to active life early. It enables the patients to squat and jump after surgery, something conventional surgery cannot offer. Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai is now the leading choice of European nationals to undergo hip resurfacing and joint replacements in India. One of them was a horse trainer and polo umpire from UK. All of them chose Wockhardt after prolonged research and have returned home satisfied. Their comments are featured in Wockhardt Hospitals’ website www.wockhardthospitals.net

The JCI accredited institutions undergo reaccreditation surveys every three years and are also subjected to random audits. All JCI accredited hospitals must mandatorily comply with new standards in quality and patient safety, which are introduced from time to time.

Wockhardt Hospitals Limited currently runs a cluster of superspeciality hospitals in Mumbai dedicated to cardiology, neurology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and minimal access surgery. It runs heart hospitals in Bangalore, Mumbai and Nagpur and a super speciality kidney hospital in Kolkata. Wockhardt Hospitals treats patients from all over South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In recent months, the hospital has been receiving several patients from Europe. Wockhardt Hospitals is the first hospital group in South Asia to be recognised by the American Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in its worldwide network of participating hospitals.