News
RP Hosts International Conference on Quality in Health Care - November 23, 2007
THE International Conference on Quality in Health Care in Low and Middle-Income Countries was recently held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati city. The conference was aimed at fostering a better understanding of the appropriate and applicable ways of assessing, monitoring and improving quality in health care in the context of resource-poor health systems. Dr. Michael Adelhardt, Program Manager of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation - Philippines outlined the value of a common understanding of quality concepts, principles and working definitions of quality health care.
Former Health Secretary Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit who is now World Health Organization Director under the Department of Human Resource for Health, WHO Geneva, emphasized that at the heart of each and every health system, the workforce is central to advancing health. He stressed further that health care is a labour-intensive service industry and that health service providers are the personification of a system's core values, providing the human link that connects knowledge to health action. Also in photo are (seated, L-R) Dr. Shirley B. Domingo, PhilHealth Vice President for Quality Assurance Group, Adelhardt and Dr. Dennis Streveler, Professor, Medical Informatics, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The conference was attended by health policy makers, health care professionals and providers, independent total quality practitioners, decision-makers in health care organizations, hospital administrators, as well as those involved in leadership management, education and training.
During the policy discussions on quality with Chandan Sinka (left), State Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission and Special Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare of India, Dr. Madeleine R. Valera, PhilHealth Senior Vice President for Health Finance Policy Sector defines that quality health care has always been in the agenda of PhilHealth. She added that the new Quality Assurance framework of PhilHealth focuses on the assessment of six key dimensions of quality health care that includes safety, effectiveness, appropriateness, consumer participation, accessibility and efficiency and the six cross-dimensional issues: competence, information management, continuity of care, evidence-based medicines, education and training and accreditation. Also in photo is Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, Country Representative and WHO-WPRO.
Domingo congratulates Adelhardt after his plenary presentation on strategic choices in quality in health care.
Dayrit discusses briefly with Streveler during the open forum. During the conference, Streveler presented the practical guide to data collection methods to monitor health indicators.