Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, recently has become the first superspeciality hospital in South Asia to achieve accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), USA. Apollo Hospitals a few months back had received JCI accreditation but it was for its general, multi-speciality hospital.

With this, Wockhardt Hospitals joins an exclusive group of 71 hospitals worldwide, which have passed JCI's stringent clinical quality standards. JCI is the gold standard in global healthcare standards. The accreditation process requires a hospital to comply with almost 1,300 measurable standards. Wockhardt is the only HMI-associate outside the US to win this recognition.

"Clinical excellence has been Wockhardt Hospitals' passion and preoccupation all along. The JCI accreditation is a recognition of our commitment to clinical excellence," said Habil Khorakiwala, Chairman, Wockhardt Hospitals.

The JCI accreditation was awarded after a rigorous onsite evaluation of Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai by an international surveyor team of healthcare experts in August this year.

Andrew Jeon, Chief Operating Officer of Harvard Medical International (HMI), Wockhardt's partner, said HMI was pleased to have worked with Wockhardt towards getting the JCI accreditation. "Over the last 18 months, our clinical and administrative teams have set high standards in various areas to upgrade our processes of clinical care and service delivery to become eligible for JCI accreditation", said Dr Lloyd Nazareth, General Manager, Wockhardt Hospitals.

The hospital has established protocols, drills and audits for safe intra-hospital and inter-hospital transfer of patients and similar procedures for infection control and patient safety. Wockhardt is participating in a quarterly global study, which monitors infection rates across leading hospitals of the world, he added.

Speaking about the Groups business plans, Khorakiwala said that "Wockhardt Hospitals will invest Rs 500 crore in four greenfield projects over the next three years. The new hospitals will be set up in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Kolkata."