Sixteen accredited hospitals honoured

Manama, Feb. 20(BNA): Sixteen hospital have today been presented with certificates of accreditation during a ceremony held at the Grove Hotel Bahrain in Amwaj Islands. The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) hosted the ceremony under the patronage of the Supreme Council for Health (SCH) President Lieutenant-General Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa. The hospitals, which include two government-managed medical facilities, passed the NHRA assessment successfully, based on a total of 2365 items in 149 criteria. Six hospitals were rated in the diamond category after achieve more than 95 percent of the accreditation criteria. Four hospital were rated in the platinum category (91-95%) and six other in the golden category (80-89%). Addressing the ceremony, Lt. Gen. Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa, he stressed Bahrain’s pride in implementing the national accreditation program, the first of its kind in the region in terms of its mandatory application and linking to the renewal of the license. "The implementation of the accreditation scheme reveals the areas of improvement in health care operations provided by health institutions Bahrain", he said, citing governance, management, patient safety, infection, quality management and other accreditation standards NHRA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mariam Al-Jalahma said that the accreditation benchmarks aim at ensuring the compliance of hospitals in Bahrain with best international practices. International Advisor Jans Escalides highlighted results of a comparative study of hospital performance and the relationship between good governance and success in achieving accreditation standards. Private Hospitals Society Secretary-General, Al-Kindi Hospital Private Hospitals Society Chief Executive Officer and Consultant Periodontist Dr. Ebtisam Al-Dallal hailed the accreditation scheme, stressing the importance of accreditation the regulatory authority to achieve desired results.