The World Accreditation Day was celebrated in India on 09 June 2015 at New Delhi, jointly by the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) and the National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories (NABL), the two national accreditation bodies representing India at the international level.
Anil Relia, Director, NABL, presented the certificate for the first RMP accreditation granted in India to P Chandy, Executive Director, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Mr. Chandy, upon receiving the certificate, reiterated BPCL management’s commitment to quality and added that it was a great honour for BPCL to receive the first accreditation for RMP from NABL. He informed that BPCL was the first in the country to start the ‘Pure for Sure’ programme, which allowed customers to check quality of petroleum products at the retail outlets. He felt that producing reference materials in India will be another step in support of the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the Prime Minister.
World Accreditation Day is a global initiative, jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), to raise awareness about the importance of accreditation. The theme for the Day this year was ‘Accreditation: Supporting the Delivery of Health and Social Care’.
Welcoming the invited dignitaries as well as the participants, Anil Jauhri, CEO, NABCB, stated that such a programme facilitates sensitisation of government bodies, industry and consumer organisations about accreditation and related issues. He appreciated the Department of Commerce for its proactive and informed approach in accreditation related matters. He also said that with the first Reference Materials Producer (RMP) accreditation being awarded on the occasion, Indian accreditation was taking another step towards international recognition.
Dr. R. P. Singh, Secretary General, Quality Council of India (QCI), in his opening remarks commended the efforts of the National Accreditation Bodies (NABs) to promote accreditation and shared his observations relevant to the theme. He voiced his concern about quality healthcare not being available to most people in the country, despite India making so much progress in all areas. He emphasized the need to separate regulatory requirements from voluntary accreditation or standards. He added that for QCI, Patient Safety is very important and that quality can bring about changes needed in healthcare. He also informed that QCI is working to bring NABL under its fold as was initially envisaged.
Sudhanshu Pandey, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, inaugurating the event, expressed that although there is awareness about quality in certain sectors, yet understanding is lacking in many areas, especially in healthcare, and the focus of common people is not quality but cost. He emphasized the need for better quality of products and services. He informed the audience about the web portal on healthcare, launched recently by the Prime Minister, which has information on over 400 hospitals accredited by NABH, the hospital and healthcare accreditation board under QCI. He apprised the gathering about the recent meeting held with around 50 Heads of Missions of other countries, to establish a scheme to regulate the Medical Travel Agents, which are an important link between overseas patients and hospitals in India.
