The Sub Committee II meeting of the National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board on Accreditation and Standards was held under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Tourism) was held in New Delhi on 13th January 2017. The list of those attended is given at Annexure. The members were welcomed by Smt. Neela Lad, DDG (NT) and briefed about the recommendations of the Sub Committee in its first meeting on 27th April 2016 and the status of the recommendations so far. The recommendations of the Committee in its first meeting were as follows:
- There is a need for standardization and accreditation of services being provided by hospitals, wellness centers and spas.
- Standardization and accreditation of services provided by Ayurveda and Yoga institutions should be considered.
- Colleges serving Indian systems of Medicine should be encouraged to be accredited.
- Accreditation to be considered at multiple levels and also for the components of the entire value chain which handles the patients like tour operators, ambulance services, etc. so as to remove the possibility of touts misusing the system.
- Efforts to be made to have at least 10 accredited institutions in each of the fields in every state having the potential.
2. The representative from NABH informed that the accreditation standards for AYUSH facilities have been revised under the direction of Ministry of AYUSH. Ministry of AYUSH has also mandated that all medical colleges for Indian System of Medicine have to be accredited by NABH. NABH is also conducting seminars and workshops and also participating in Ayurveda Fairs to popularize the standards. The representative of NABH also informed about the Medical Value Travel Facilitators (MVTF) empanelment programme of NABH. It was also informed that there are accreditation benchmarks for Standalone Panchakarma Centres and that Basic Minimum Standards have been prescribed for the AYUSH centres which are in the process of being finalized. Chairman mentioned that once the standards are approved, Ministry of Tourism may be informed so that the information could be disseminated.
3. Representative of Ministry of AYUSH informed that they have list of 30 approved Yoga institutions that could be shared with the Ministry of Tourism for further publicizing. It was agreed that the same could be shared immediately so that the same could be incorporated in the brochure being prepared by Ministry of Tourism. The Respective Regional Directors of India Tourism offices could also visit these institutions to help them coming up to international standards.
4. NABH also informed that they are working on standards for accrediting standalone spas. The member from the Association for Wellness and Spas (AWAS) informed that they are working along with NABH to finalize the standards.
5. NABH were asked to provide a list of accredited institutions state wise and Ministry of Tourism could request the states that are lagging behind to get the institutions in their state accredited.
6. NABH was informed of the recommendation of the Sub-Committee I regarding setting up of a counter for facilitation at the airports by NABH. Representative from NABH would inform the same to the Board.
7. The Sub Committee was of the view that a mechanism may be evolved for bringing in the approved Ministry of Tourism Tour Operators under the ambit of the empanelment of the Medical Value Travel Facilitator programme after taking in view their specialized abilities.
8. The Sub Committee made the following recommendations:
- Ministry of AYUSH would provide the list of approved Yoga institutions to Ministry of Tourism for further dissemination of the information and also for checking on adherence to global standards.
- The NABH would inform the Board once the standards for the Standalone Wellness Centres/Spas are finalized.
- NABH could broad-base the pre-qualification procedure for Medical Value Travel Facilitator to include tour operators approved by Ministry of Tourism having specific proven expertise in the field.
ANNEXURE
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE SUB COMMITTEE II MEETING OF NATIONAL MEDICAL AND WELLNESS TOURISM BOARD HELD ON 13TH JANUARY 2017, NEW DELHI
- Shri Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism
- Smt. Neela Lad, Dy. Director General (NT), Ministry of Tourism
- Shri Mohamed Farouk, Asstt. Director General (NT), Ministry of Tourism
- Shri Ramkumar Vijayan, Assistant Director (NT), Ministry of Tourism
- Dr. Vinay Aggarwal, Indian Medical Association (IMA), New Delhi
- Dr. Gopesh Sharma, Ministry of AYUSH, New Delhi
- Ms. Deepti Mohan, NABH, New Delhi
- Shri Suraj Joseph, Max Healthcare, New Delhi
- Shri Sanjeev Kumar, Max Healthcare Institute Ltd.
- Shri Amitabh Devendra, Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI), New Delhi
- Shri Jatin Walia, President, AWAS