Times of India
17 March 2010
By Vishakha Sharma

Pune hospitals lack international JCI accreditation, important for any city to be recognized as a medical tourism hub
Even though Pune is on course to be the next metro and is popular among foreigners, hospitals in the city have a long way to go before they find any acceptance among patients from abroad who want to get diagnosed and treated here for the ailments. This is due to the lack of accreditation qualifying them to offer health care to people from abroad.

India is a preferred medical tourism destination today. There are numerous hospitals too across the country which have a Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, an accreditation from the US, required by hospitals to be recognized as a center for medical tourism. However, despite having a large number of foreigners, none of the hospitals in Pune have a JCI accreditation

Pune Mirror spoke to some of the major hospitals in the city to know the reason behind the same. Dr Prasad R Muglikar, Director, Medical Services of Jehangir Hospital said, “It is very expensive to get the JCI accreditation, but we are moving towards that. We do have many foreign patients coming in for treatment for which our hospital has a great infrastructure and expertise too. But still having a JCI accreditation is really important as it gives a standard to the hospital and helps the foreigners in choosing the hospitals easily.”

“But there is an Indian version of JCI which is National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH) for which we are applying soon. At present only Ruby Hall has NABH accreditation.” he added.

Dr Sujata Malik, Medical director of Ruby Hall said, “We don’t have the JCI accreditation as its cost is very high but we have adopted the NABH standards in November 2009 which is on the similar lines as that of JCI. We have the infrastructure and the NABH accreditation and I think both are equally important for any hospital.”

She added, “We are the only hospital in Pune with NABH accreditation and having adopted it, a lot credibility has come our way. In addition to the confidence, we have got to move forward for JCI accreditation.”

Dr Jaysingh Shinde, Chief Surgeon and Managing Director of Surya Hospital said, “JCI has certain criteria and a lot of formalities to be fulfilled for which we have not yet applied for. We are connected with Sahyadri Hospital which is applying for the NABH accreditation soon and we will then have it.”

JCI
The Joint Commission International is an international accreditation, which offers accreditation for a subscription fee to the hospitals and health organisations.JCI is part of the Joint Commission Resources(JCR), in the United States of America.

Medical Tourism
It is a practice of travelling all across the globe in order to be able to receive the required health care.