Friday 15 / November / 2024
Muscat: Patients in Oman who’re headed to Starcare hospitals for treatment can be guaranteed some of the best patient care in the country, after the hospital became one of the first in the Sultanate to receive the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI) from the World Health Organisation.
With Oman’s Ministry of Health looking to raise the quality of patient care and treatment in hospitals across the country to international standards, Starcare received this certification on May 8, 2017, and the hospital’s CEO, Dr. Mohammed Nasee, is sure that his would be the first of many healthcare centres in the country to receive this certification.
“We have become among the first to have this honour in Oman,” he told Times of Oman. “I want to thank Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Saidi, Oman’s Health Minister, because he brought the WHO to Oman. The exercise for accreditation was conducted jointly by WHO and the Ministry of Health. A handful of hospitals have gone through this survey, and this movement will now grow in Oman, as per the ministry’s plans. This will bring in a framework that will benefit the people of Oman.
High quality care
“This is a system of quality to check how a hospital functions at every step, so that patients receive safe and high quality care,” he added. “For example, when patients come in, the nurses must first check blood pressure, then their medications and lab results, so that they can be treated correctly.”
WHO inspectors oversaw the standards adopted for more than 1,000 practices in the hospital, before giving this prestigious certification. Starcare faced four inspections by the Ministry of Health to ensure it was following the best procedures, before officials from the United Nations arrived to conduct their own tests.
“For about two to three days, the WHO inspectors went around the hospital, scrutinising everything minutely,” said Nasee. “They went over the procedures, checked the premises and the protocols that we follow, and only then did they give us their opinion. I am glad to stay that Starcare passed their checks with flying colours.
“They were impressed with the quality of service in our hospital, but advised us to seek further engagement with the community to ensure that the healthcare we provided was best suited to those we serve,” he added. “The core of our hospital’s philosophy has always been to make patients feel that they have come to the right place.”
The WHO certification comes on the back of Starcare receiving accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), which is based in the United States and ensures that hospitals follow best practices in quality and patient safety, in line with international standards across the globe. For hospitals to receive this is a mark of prestige.
“We were established in 2011, and received our first JCI in our very first year,” noted Nasee. “We were re-accredited by them in 2015, and the WHO was impressed that we had received this. It is a matter of pride for me to say that we are among the first hospitals in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) to receive this double honour.
“Training is an integral part of any hospital’s culture, and an insistence by accrediting bodies is an insistence towards ongoing learning and updating knowledge for the benefit of the patients,” he noted.
