Kerala Health Dept to train hospital staff in courteous behaviour; ‘A smile is also medicine’

Kottayam: The Health Department has reminded staff that patients at government hospitals and medical colleges need not only medicines but also courteous treatment and emotional support. The move comes amid recurring complaints that some employees behave poorly towards patients and their attendants.

The Health Department has drawn up a special training programme to improve the communication skills and service etiquette of employees. The aim is to ensure patient-friendly services. Medical officers have been exempted from the mandatory training.

The department says it receives numerous complaints from patients and attendants about staff failing to provide assistance that falls within their duties, rude behaviour, ineffective communication and unsatisfactory public interaction. Such incidents affect patient care and can also erode public trust in the government healthcare system.

The training will focus not only on patient care but also on improving communication skills and public relations. Professional ethics, inappropriate behaviour, grievance redressal and service delivery are among the topics included in the programme.

For many people visiting hospitals, poor interaction by security personnel is a familiar experience, and several disputes begin there. Therefore, the department has directed that security personnel who have not completed the training should neither be appointed nor allowed to continue in service.

The training will cover staff at medical college hospitals, district and general hospitals, women and children’s hospitals, model hospitals, taluk headquarters hospitals and taluk hospitals that receive large numbers of patients.

The Apex Trauma and Emergency Learning Centre in Thiruvananthapuram will be responsible for training staff at medical college hospitals, while the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare will oversee training at other institutions.

Master trainers who undergo the programme at these institutions will train employees at the grassroots-level facilities.

The department has directed that the training be completed within two months and that it bring about a visible improvement in the way patients are treated.