India's best defence hospital for 2017 is in Bengaluru

Monday January 08, 2018 , 2 min Read

Indian Air Force's Command Hospital in Bengaluru has been selected as the best defence hospital in the country for 2017. This is the fifth time that the hospital has received this honour in the five decades of its existence.

The award was bestowed to the Command Hospital, Bengaluru, as part of the Six Sigma Healthcare Excellence Awards. The award is given in twenty different categories every year to honour the contribution of healthcare providers in the field of medicine.

The Air Force Command Hospital had won the Best Defence Hospital of the Year award four times in the past — in 1991, 2004, 2009, and 2011.

Award for the year 2017 was received by MV Singh, Air Vice Marshal, and Aftab Alam, Deputy Commandant for Command Hospital Air Force, Bengaluru. According to The New Indian Express, a statement from the Ministry of Defence stated,

Command Hospital Air Force, Bengaluru, applied for this award and submitted citation and all requisite certificates in support of the exemplary healthcare being provided to its clientele for the past five decades. The jury after duly evaluating the documents and citation conferred the prestigious award of the Best Defence Hospital of the Year 2017.

India spends only 1.2 percent of the GDP on healthcare which is lower than many developing countries including China. Talking about this in a press conference, according to The Times of India, Dr Ravi Wankhedkar, National President for Indian Medical Association (2018), said,

"As government sector fails to provide primary and secondary medical care, around 80 percent of these services were being provided by the private sector and 70 percent by the small hospitals and individuals doctors. However, the policies are structured in a way that the small doctors are being made unviable and fresh doctors now can't even think of starting their new small establishments."