Early disease diagnosis and awareness key to quality healthcare, stresses Sonali Bendre at CAHOCON 2019

by Priya Jadhav

Mumbai, April, 2019: Detection of diseases like cancer at an early stage and creating mass awareness on a community level is key to attaining better healthcare outcomes, stated noted actress and cancer survivor “Sonali Bendre“ on the first Day of CAHOCON 2019, the 5^th international conference of the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO) held on April 13-14 at Sahara Star Hotel, Mumbai. Themed around “Healthcare Quality Should Impact Outcome”, the conference shed insights on the continuing engagement of healthcare industry in traversing innovative pathways to attain quality healthcare outcomes.

“It is important to note signals which the body sends at periodic intervals and get the right diagnosis done. Early detection can be key to avoiding painful invasive treatment. Open-ended discussions on discussions like cancer have the potential to foster awareness on a wider level. Healthcare institutions like hospitals should also play an important role in initiating dialogue on diseases and ensure community participation to improve healthcare outcomes,” stated Sonali Bendre

“Quality healthcare forms the foundation of a healthy society and a growing economy. We need to ensure that there is no compromise with healthcare standards and people from all strata of society have access to the best healthcare systems. Through an accredited healthcare ecosystem, we intend to standardize healthcare procedures and train healthcare professionals in practices and processes to provide state-of-the –art healthcare to the citizens of the country.,” stated Dr Rajendra Patankar, COO, Nanavati Super Specialty Hospital.

“Accreditation is very good and all hospitals should try to go for it. However, in our country, it is all the processes are not implemented effectively and outcome measurements are not done most of the times. Unfortunately, as of now, accreditation is largely undertaken as a public relations exercise and a marketing tool rather than improving healthcare quality which should reach the patient. Implementation should be more vigorous,” stated Dr. PM Bhujang, President, Association of Hospitals.

“CAHOCON is a great platform to make hospitals process-oriented and increase the quotient of patient safety. Hospital’ care over the last few years has become very complex and error prone. In such a scenario, it is imperative that hospitals understand this changing scenario and the need for understanding to work as a team with the requisite processes,” stated Dr. Vijay Agarwal, President, CAHOCON  

“Healthcare should be a bottomline equalizer and people should be able to afford and access quality healthcare,” stated noted journalist Arnab Goswami who was one of the speakers at the conference    

CAHO, an association of all accredited hospitals and laboratories has embarked on a mission of quality promotion across the country. Towards its journey in improving quality and safety of healthcare services, CAHO organises an annual event CAHOCON in collaboration with all stakeholders.  

The theme of CAHOCON 2019 "Healthcare Quality Should Impact Outcome" will ensure the ongoing engagement of healthcare industry towards establishing innovative pathways in achieving stronger foothold in the Quality journey.

CAHOCON 2019 aims to share the best practices developed and implemented by healthcare organizations nationally & internationally. The multi-faceted panel of eminent National and International speakers deliberated on the theme's relevance in today's healthcare industry during the conference.

Pre Conference Workshops and Master classes were held on 12th April, 2019 in their partnering Mumbai hospitals. The collaboration of participating hospitals facilitated the implementation of various projects which were showcased.