Why in news? 

The Noolpuzha Family Health Centre (FHC), which caters to the health care of the State’s second largest tribal grama panchayat, has been selected for the National Quality Assurance Certification (NQAC) process for the second consecutive time.

Highlights:

• The State government upgraded the health care institution into an FHC in 2017. Ever since, the hospital has been doing well in patient care, securing a score of 93% in the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) assessment carried out by a two-member expert team of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• The hospital secured the top honour by sticking to the quality standards in service delivery, cleanliness, maintenance and inpatient and outpatient care. A health institution had to pass more than 6,500 quality checkpoints to secure the honour

Facilities provided

• Various facilities has been set up for the patients under the Noolpuzha grama panchayat with the support of the civic body. Gothra Sparsham, a comprehensive tribal health care project, and Pratheekhsha, a project to ensure pre- and post-delivery health care facilities for tribal women, are among the projects in place.
• An e-health programme is also set up for which the grama panchayat has appointed an engineering graduate as an e-health technical engineer to maintain a server set up for the purpose.
• An electric rickshaw facility is also available at the hospital for free to bring in and drop off elderly patients living within a three-km radius of the hospital. An old age people’s corners have been set up under a huge banyan tree on the premises so that the elderly can spend leisure time together. A TV set has also been set up in the area for them.
• A physiotherapy unit, dental department, gymnasium, and a fitness centre too have been set up.
• There is also a telemedicine facility, making the services of specialist doctors available to the patients through videoconferencing.

• As many as 13 government hospitals in the State were also selected this year for the recognition, including two new hospitals.