India crosses historic 50,000 NQAS certifications to boost public healthcare
New Delhi, Jan 7 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) The government on Wednesday said that a total of 50,373 public health facilities across all states and union territories have been certified under the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) till December 31 – a comprehensive quality framework established by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
This is a landmark milestone in the journey to strengthen the quality of public healthcare services, said Health Ministry.
“The achievement marks a proud moment for India’s public health system as the nation crosses the 50,000-mark for NQAS certifications, reinforcing the Government’s unwavering commitment to quality, safety, and patient-centred care. It represents a significant step forward in ensuring equitable access to high-quality healthcare for all citizens, particularly the poor, vulnerable, and marginalised populations,” the ministry said in a statement.
The NQAS journey began in 2015 with just 10 certified healthcare facilities, initially focusing on District Hospitals to ensure safe, patient-centric, and quality-assured services.
Over time, the framework was systematically expanded to Sub-District Hospitals, Community Health Centres, Ayushman Arogya Mandir–PHCs, AAM–UPHCs, and AAM–Sub Health Centres, enabling quality assurance across all levels of public healthcare.
The introduction of Virtual Assessments for NQAS certification has rapidly expanded quality coverage across India’s public health system.
Certified facilities increased from 6,506 in December 2023 to 22,786 in December 2024, and further to 50,373 by December 2025 — reflecting an exponential scale-up within one year.
This includes 48,663 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (SHC, PHC, UPHC) and 1,710 secondary care facilities (CHC, SDH, DH), underscoring the institutionalisation of quality across all levels of public healthcare.
India’s pursuit of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), guided by the National Health Policy 2017, emphasises the provision of quality, affordable healthcare without financial hardship. The rapid scale-up of NQAS reflects the adoption of multi-pronged acceleration strategies, including continuous capacity building, digital innovations, substantial increase in pool of assessors, and continuous quality improvement mechanisms.
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