Use Ayush docs for clinical work and you could lose accreditation: NABH to hosps

Use Ayush docs for clinical work and you could lose accreditation: NABH to hosps

Rema.Nagarajan@timesgroup.com

19.12.2020

The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare providers (NABH) has warned allopathic hospitals accredited with it that they could face withdrawal of accreditation if they were found employing Ayush doctors for performing clinical duties in ICUs and other patient care areas in place of MBBS resident medical officers (RMOs) and emergency doctors.

A “cautionary notice” the board issued on Thursday said, “This is a blatant violation of NABH standards for healthcare accreditation and very much against patient safety norms and compromise quality of modern medicine clinical care outcomes.” TOI had, in October, reported on the use of Ayush doctors in ICUs for night duty being a fairly common practice in many private hospitals, particularly in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Thursday’s notice stated that the NABH has taken a serious note of the matter and reiterated that deploying of Ayush doctors in allopathic hospitals for writing independent orders and clinical work without the supervision of allopathic doctors is not permitted. In case the allopathic hospitals are employing such doctors to work as clinical assistants, under applicable state laws, they should not be involved in direct patient care and should strictly follow job responsibilities as defined by hospital management, it added.

Ayush doctors working in allopathic hospitals will not be considered by the NABH as RMOs during the process of assessment and for the purpose of grant of accreditation, stated the notice, adding that any violation may invite adverse decision by NABH, including withdrawal of accreditation.

However, even as the NABH has been carrying out surprise inspections in hospitals in this matter, it is yet to have a definite list of states that allow Ayush doctors to be employed in allopathic hospitals to either prescribe a pre-defined set of allopathic medicines or to do clinical procedures after completing a bridge course.

NABH officials clarified that the board’s legal team was in the process of determining the status of the law in different states.