Gujarat has reconstituted state- and district-level Quality Assurance Committees to improve the standard of services in government hospitals, public health facilities and primary, community and urban health centres across the state. The revised system will review healthcare quality, patient safety and performance standards with immediate effect.
The Health Department took the decision after considering guidelines recently issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It has cancelled earlier resolutions relating to the Quality Assurance Committees and introduced a revised structure for monitoring services in government healthcare institutions.
The committees will focus on improving the quality of medical treatment and facilities available to patients, increasing patient satisfaction and strengthening public confidence in the government health system. The revised framework covers government dispensaries, hospitals, primary health centres, community health centres and urban health centres.
Under the new arrangement, state- and district-level committees will review the performance of healthcare institutions every six months. Meetings will be held every three months to examine scores against quality initiatives and standards related to patient safety, Kayakalp, Lakshya and MusQan. These initiatives cover different aspects of service quality and institutional performance, according to the report.
The committees will also examine and dispose of compensation claims in cases involving failure or death related to sterilisation procedures under the National Family Planning Indemnity Scheme. This gives the quality-assurance structure a role beyond routine facility assessment by including scrutiny of claims connected with a specific public health programme.
The state-level committee will be chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Health Department. The Commissioner of Health for urban and rural health will serve as co-vice-chair. Experts from medical colleges, health officials from municipal corporations and representatives of medical bodies will also be included in the committee.
At the district level, the committee will be chaired by the District Collector. The District Development Officer and the Chief District Health Officer will be among its members. The composition places administrative officials and public health authorities together in the review process, linking district governance with the monitoring of healthcare delivery.
The revised committees are expected to work towards ensuring treatment aligned with national standards in government healthcare institutions. Their periodic reviews will assess whether facilities are meeting defined quality benchmarks and whether patients are receiving safer, more transparent and higher-quality services.
The decision places regular review at the centre of Gujarat’s public healthcare oversight system. Its implementation will now depend on the functioning of the committees, the frequency of their meetings and the follow-up taken on the quality scores and cases placed before them.
