NABH is the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers. In India, when people say "NABH" they usually mean its hospital accreditation: a hospital is assessed against published standards, first on paper and then on site by trained assessors. The way to prepare is to treat the standards as an audit programme and find your gaps long before the assessors do.
Last reviewed: 17 October 2026. Facts checked. We opened nabh.co and read its FAQ and programme listing. We searched for the hospital standard's chapter structure, which comes from search summaries of NABH's own standards document; the PDF was too large to open, so we did not read it directly. We did not check fees, assessment duration, scoring rules or renewal timelines. Confirm all of these on nabh.co.
What NABH is, and what it is not
NABH accredits more than hospitals. Its site lists programmes for small healthcare organisations, eye care, blood banks, clinics, dental, medical laboratories, Ayush, nursing excellence, emergency departments and digital health, among others. The first job is to pick the programme that fits your facility.
Accreditation is also not the same as a licence or a statutory inspection. It is an assessment against NABH's own standards. Separately, laboratories are accredited by a different body, NABL.
The process, as NABH describes it
NABH's FAQ gives these steps:
- Choose the programme that fits your facility type and size.
- Review the applicable standards and put the required protocols in place.
- Apply and submit documents through the online portal.
- Complete a self-assessment.
- Take an onsite evaluation by NABH-trained assessors.
After assessment, the site also refers to review of corrective and preventive action (CAPA) reports, surveillance assessments, and renewal through the portal. NABH also offers training, manuals and a self-paced tool called E-Mitra with templates and checklists.
For hospitals, the site refers to the 6th Edition accreditation standards, with the implementation plan notified in September 2024. Check which edition applies on the day you apply.
What the standards cover
Search summaries of the hospital standard describe ten chapters, five focused on the patient and five on the organisation.
| Group | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Patient-centred | Access, assessment and continuity of care; care of patients; management of medication; patient rights and education; hospital infection control |
| Organisation-centred | Patient safety and quality improvement; responsibilities of management; facility management and safety; human resource management; information management system |
The same summaries say individual requirements are grouped into categories (core, commitment, achievement and excellence) that are assessed at different stages. We could not confirm the exact counts or which stage uses which, so read the current edition before you plan.
What assessors typically look for
Assessors test whether your written policy matches what staff do. Expect them to ask for evidence in these forms:
- Documents: policies, procedures, consent forms, formats.
- Records: patient files, medication charts, incident reports, training records, equipment maintenance logs.
- Observation: a walk through wards, operation theatres, the pharmacy and the laundry or waste areas.
- Interviews: short questions to nurses, doctors and housekeeping staff about what they would do in a given situation.
This is a practitioner view, not NABH's published checklist. The pattern is the same as in any audit: the document is the claim, and the record and the observation are the evidence.
A preparation checklist
Use this to organise a gap assessment against the current standard.
| Area | Question to ask |
|---|---|
| Patient care | Can we show a complete, signed record for a sample of discharged patients? |
| Medication | Are storage, labelling, high-risk drugs and administration records consistent? |
| Infection control | Are hand hygiene, sterilisation and waste handling logged, not just practised? |
| Patient rights | Are consent, grievance and information processes visible and used? |
| Safety and quality | Are incidents reported, analysed and closed with a documented action? |
| Facility | Are fire safety, utilities and equipment calibration records current? |
| People | Are staff credentials, induction and training records complete? |
| Information | Are records secure, retrievable and consistently completed? |
Run the gap assessment as an internal audit. Pick a sample, trace it through the process, and log each gap with an owner and date. Our guide to internal audit for hospitals lists the risk areas and tests, and the healthcare hospital audit workbook gives you a structure. For the safety walkthrough, adapt the environmental, health and safety audit checklist, and for the general programme use the internal audit checklist.
Common reasons hospitals struggle
- Policies are written for the assessor and not used on the ward.
- Records are complete on the day of the visit but not the months before.
- Incident reports exist but nobody analyses them.
- Staff cannot explain a policy in their own words.
- Corrective actions from the internal audit are never closed.
CORAA's audit tools are built for audit evidence and working papers, so the same discipline of sample, evidence and close-out applies to an accreditation readiness review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does NABH stand for?
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers.
Is NABH accreditation only for hospitals?
No. NABH's site lists programmes for several kinds of facility, including small healthcare organisations, clinics, blood banks, dental and eye care. Choose the programme that matches your facility.
What are the steps to get NABH accreditation?
Per NABH's FAQ: choose a programme, implement the standards, apply online, complete a self-assessment and undergo an onsite evaluation. Review of CAPA reports and surveillance follow.
How many chapters are in the hospital standards?
Search summaries describe ten chapters, five patient-centred and five organisation-centred. Confirm against the current edition on nabh.co.
How is NABH different from NABL?
NABH accredits healthcare providers such as hospitals. NABL accredits testing and calibration laboratories, and also medical laboratories.
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