SHILLONG: Two Primary Health Centres (PHCs) from Meghalaya, Umden PHC and Nartiang PHC became the first ever facilities in the state to get the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) certification.
Secretary Health and Family Welfare cum Mission Director, National Health Mission, Pravin Bakshi, gave away the certification to the doctors and staff of the two respective PHCs.
The quality certification programme was launched with an aim to recognise the good performing facilities as well as improving credibility of community hospitals.
Certification is provided against NQAS after meeting pre-determined criteria and is valid for three years after which the facility will have to apply for and undergo the certification process again.
The certification process involves an internal assessment by the facility itself and after qualifying the requisite benchmark, it will then undergo a state certification by the state assessors and after state qualification, it will then undergo the national certification by national assessors.
The certified facilities are also provided financial incentives as recognition of their good work.
