Government hospitals to update their ‘Bible'

In 1976, the state government had issued a 309-page long manual on the governance of government hospitals. This manual is called the Health Department’s Bible. However, changing times have brought new facilities in the hospital with new ways of treatment and technology. The hospital rulebook is going to update, keeping up with this new age. The new manual will include directives from maintaining government hospital buildings, operation theatres, diagnosis machines, and creating new wards to treating patients of Tuberculosis. 

The old rulebook was created by the then-Department of Health in 1976. It was concerned with ways of treatment, existing illnesses, and their needs. In the wake of the emergence of new diseases, new treatment methods and diagnostic methods have come into being. Thus, to adapt to the new age, the State Health Resource Systems Centre (SHRSC), Pune, under the Health Department, has taken up the job to update the rulebook.

Earlier manuals recommended placing TB patients outside cities to get enough sunlight and quarantine them. Now these centres have been propped up in the city with changed protocols for quarantine. The protocol for the disposal of biomedical waste has also undergone a transformation. 

“Every health facility in the state- from primary healthcare centres to district hospitals will change according to the updated manual. This new rulebook, prepared by a committee of around 80 experts from the SHRSC will likely be published in the coming 6 months," senior official, health department said.

What will be the new changes? 

• Upcoming primary health centres, district hospitals, speciality hospitals, and hospitals for women will follow the new rulebook.
• Existing hospitals will remain the same with modifications made to their policies according to the rulebook.
• The current manual only contains diagnosis and X-rays. New guidelines for Sonography, CT scan, MRI, 2D Echo, Operation Theatre and their management will be issued. 
• The old rulebook had recommended testing for TB or diabetes before taking blood for donation. The new rulebook has removed this guideline since these diseases do not spread through blood.