New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) The National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), a constituent body of the Quality Council of India (QCI), on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI), to advance quality and consistency of diabetes care in India.

RSSDI is India’s largest professional body representing over 12,000 diabetes care providers across the country.

As part of the MoU, NABH will drive national quality certification and accreditation programmes and RSSDI’s expertise in developing best practice clinical guidelines for diabetes management and research.

Amid the increasing cases of diabetes in the country, the MoU urged for boosting research on the high blood sugar condition via robust clinical and digital health standards, said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry

“Diabetes impacts over 250 million people across India, and better management of diabetes is critical for the overall healthcare ecosystem. NABH can play a key role in driving standardised care and evidence-based guidelines for diabetes management,” said Rizwan Koita, Chairperson of NABH.

Koita also noted the “roll-out of digital health standards for clinics, which will enable the use of the latest technologies by both doctors and patients”.

Further, the ministry stated that the partnership will ensure accredited diabetes clinics will maintain high standards of care for diabetes treatment which also involves education, research, and guideline-directed care programmes.

These clinics will blend modern technology with personal care delivered by trained teams ensuring patients meet their recommended target goals.

The ministry said that NABH and RSSDI will work towards boosting “NABH’s Accreditation Standards for Allopathic Clinics for specific needs of diabetes care”.

The MoU will also help “develop digital health standards for Clinic Management Systems (CMS) for better management of diabetes care”.

On the other hand, “RSSDI will actively promote certification of NABH’s Allopathic Clinic Accreditation Standards across its member base”, the ministry said.

This will aid in better and standardised diabetes care, and will also help in decreasing morbidity and complications caused due to diabetes.