Kayakalp

The  Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced the Kayakalp initiative on 15 May 2015. This initiative was launched after the launch of the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)’ programme to complement the efforts undertaken by the people under the SBA. The Prime Minister launched the SBA on 2 October 2014. It focuses on promoting and creating awareness of maintaining cleanliness in public spaces. 

The ‘Swachhta Guidelines for Public Health Facilities’ was issued separately for initiating action under the SBA in the field of public health facilities. The first principle of healthcare is ‘to do no harm’. It is necessary for the health care facilities to maintain cleanliness and ensure adherence to practices of infection control. 

Public health care facilities are a prominent mechanism of social protection for meeting the health care requirements of a large section of the population. Hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals are critical to prevent infections and give patients and visitors a positive experience. Maintaining hygiene in public health care facilities also promotes shaping behaviour related to a clean environment. 

To complement the efforts of maintaining cleanliness under the ‘Swachhta Guidelines for Public Health Facilities’, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched a National Initiative, i.e. Kayakalp. Under the Kayakalp initiative, the government gives awards to those public health care facilities that exhibit high levels of hygiene, cleanliness and infection control. 

Objectives Of Kayakalp

• To promote hygiene, cleanliness and infection control practices in public health care facilities. 
• To recognise and incentivise the public healthcare facilities that exhibit commendable performance in complying with the standard protocols of infection control and cleanliness. 
• To impart a culture of peer review and ongoing assessment of performance relating to sanitisation, hygiene and cleanliness. 
• To share and create sustainable practices relating to cleanliness in public health facilities leading to positive health outcomes.

Parameters For Giving Awards Under Kayakalp

The distribution of awards is based on the performance of the public health care facilities on the below parameters: 

• Hospital/facility upkeep 
• Infection control
• Hygiene and sanitation
• Hygiene promotion 
• Support services
• Waste management 

Criteria to Apply For Kayakalp

The prerequisites for applying for an award are as follows: 

• Constitution of a cleanliness and infection control committee. 
• Institution of a mechanism of periodic peer assessment/internal assessment based on specified criteria. 
• Achieved at least 70% score during the peer assessment process.

Process Of Assessment Under Kayakalp

First, the public health care facilities should carry out internal assessment every quarter, and they should maintain a record of the scores of each quarter. The scores are submitted to the office of the Chief Medical Officer. The internal assessment is done by the staff of the public health care facilities using the assessment tools.

For the public health care facilities having an average score of 70% in the internal assessment, the district/state will ensure that the peer assessment is carried out.  Within the district, the hospital staff of one block-level facility will undertake the peer assessment of another block-level facility as determined by the District Hospitals/Chief Medical Officer(CMO). A similar process is followed at the state level by allocating a team from one district hospital to travel to another district hospital for undertaking a peer assessment within the state.

The District Award Nomination committee will collate and analyse the peer assessment scores of all the public health care facilities. The District Award Nomination committee will rank the Community Health Centres and Sub Divisional Hospitals according to the scores and submit them to the State Award Committee. The State Award Committee will shortlist the Community Health Centres and Sub Divisional Hospitals for an external assessment, in addition to peer assessment. The awards under the Kayakalp will be distributed based on the scores arrived using a specific protocol by the external assessment team.

Awards Under Kayakalp

Based on scores administered by an external assessment team, the awards will be distributed as follows: 

• Best District Hospital (DH) awards in the eligible states, .i.e. states with more than ten districts:
  • One award for Best District Hospital for category A state 
  • Two awards for Best District Hospital for category B state 
  • Three awards for Best District Hospital for category C state
• Best Community Health Centres (CHC)/Sub District Hospitals (SDHs) awards:
  • Two Best CHC/SDHs awards in the larger state, i.e. state with more than ten districts.
  • One Best CHC/SDHs award in the smaller state, i.e. state with less than ten districts.
• Best Health and Wellness Centre (HWC) awards for only those districts that have ten or more HWC: 
  • One Best HWC award for category A district. 
  • Two Best HWC awards for category B district. 
  • Three Best HWC awards for category C district. 
• One Primary Health Centre (PHC) award in every district. 

Each of the above facilities will receive a cash award with a citation.