Fact-check: Shaukat Khanum Hospital is the second organisation in world to get JCI’s Enterprise Accreditation

Social media users recently claimed that Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital is not the second healthcare organisation in the world to be awarded accreditation by the US-based Joint Commission International.

The claim is false.

Claim

On October 4, Imran Khan, the former prime minister and chairman of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, tweeted: “I am delighted to announce that Shaukat Khanum has become only the second organization in the world to be awarded full Enterprise Accreditation by the Joint Commission International.”

However, Twitter users disputed Khan’s statement.

One social media user wrote that Shaukat Khanum ``was the 5th organization to be awarded full enterprise accreditation by JCI in Pakistan and 2,201 in the world.” He also posted a link to the Joint Commission International’s website.

Another Twitter account posted that there were 22,000 JCI-accredited healthcare organizations in the world and four in Pakistan. His tweet received over 2,000 likes and 500 retweets.

Fact

Shaukat Khanum Hospital is the second organisation in the world to be given “Enterprise Accreditation” by the Joint Commission International.

The Joint Commission International (JCI), headquartered in Illinois, United States, accredits and certifies healthcare organisations around the world that meet high standards of quality and patient safety. One type of accreditation that it awards is known as “The Gold Seal of Approval” which, as the social media users pointed out, has been achieved by more than 1,000 organizations across the world.

In Pakistan, five healthcare organisations and hospitals have achieved JCI’s gold seal of approval, including Shaukat Khanum Hospital. In fact, Shaukat Khanum received the gold seal in 2018 and 2019.

But what Imran Khan is referring to is “Enterprise Accreditation”, a new type of accreditation rolled out by the JCI. Khan has rightly stated that it has only been awarded to two organizations in the world to date.

As per emails and documents were seen by Geo Fact Check, between JCI and Shaukat Khanum Hospital, the JCI surveyed the Hospital on August 22-23.

After this it was awarded the “Enterprise Accreditation”, making it the second organization in the world to get this accreditation and the first in Pakistan. The first healthcare organization to be given JCI’s full Enterprise Accreditation is a hospital in Dubai.

Dr Faisal Sultan, the CEO of Shaukat Khanum Hospital, told Geo Fact Check the status of the hospital's "Enterprise Accreditation" will also be up on the JCI website in November.

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