Health Care Accreditation Council launched in Jordan

Eng. Said Darwazeh indicated, "After two years of development we are pleased to launch our highly anticipated health care accreditation council -HCAC - which aims to improve the level of quality in health care services and patient safety and will ultimately help in shaping the future of health care services not only in Jordan but also in the region through internationally recognized and accredited standards."

The HCAC has been in the process of development through the funding and guidance of the USAID through Jordan Health Care Accreditation project and the HCAC is now officially in operation where Eng. Said Darwazeh announced that the HCAC Board of Directors has appointed Pharmacist May Abuhamdia as CEO of the HCAC and the Council has officially launched its logo.

During the press conference Eng. Said Darwazeh, the Chairperson of the HCAC Board of Directors, provided a brief outline of the history of the establishment of HCAC where he indicated that the establishment of the council comes in response to the need to have a national independent body that serves as a steward for health care accreditation.

The establishment of HCAC was developed through a joint initiative from the Ministry of Health and the USAID under the JHAP project which has been working with all health care sectors for the last 2 years to develop the hospital accreditation standards and also establish the HCAC.

The mission of HCAC is to ensure the optimal level of quality and safety of health care services by developing, revising and classifying internationally accepted health care facility and program standards, ensuring compliance against those standards and granting accreditation of health care facilities and programs that meet the standards and by fostering the continuous improvement of health care services.

The HCAC was officially registered as a non profit private share holding company in December of 2007, and received as well, in December of 2007, the accreditation and international recognition of the Jordanian Hospital Accreditation Standards by the international steward of accreditation of health care for accrediting bodies - ISQua (International Society for Quality in Health Care).

In obtaining the ISQua accreditation of HCAC Hospital Accreditation standards, the HCAC joins the group of 14 health care programs around the world that have received ISQua accreditation of their hospital standards. Eng. Said Darwazeh indicated, "With receipt of ISQua recognition for HCAC hospital accreditations standards, HCAC hospital accreditation is now at internationally recognized levels."

While HCAC is now working on hospital accreditation, the council plans to expand its accreditation standards to other health care services in the near future. "Jordan was always in the forefront in launching initiatives and programs that contribute to its constant thrive towards excellence," added Eng. Darwazeh.

In addition, HCAC will also assist in efforts geared towards improving the competitiveness levels of health care facilities in Jordan and increase opportunities for health care tourism.

Eng. Said Darwazeh concluded the press conference by indicating that" the success of the HCAC will not be measured by the number of facilities it strives to accredit but by the impact it will have on quality of health care services and ultimately the lives of patients and the community at large."