India has crossed a major quality milestone in public healthcare, with more than 50,000 government health facilities now certified under the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) programme, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As of December 31, 2025, a total of 50,373 public health institutions across the country have received NQAS certification. The certification recognises facilities that meet defined benchmarks for safety, hygiene, service delivery and patient care, reinforcing the government’s push for reliable and standardised public healthcare.

Launched in 2015, the NQAS initiative initially covered district hospitals. Over time, it has expanded to include community health centres, primary health centres, urban health clinics, sub-health centres and Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, bringing quality benchmarks to the grassroots level of healthcare delivery.

Officials said the rapid growth in certifications was supported by the introduction of virtual assessment systems, which made audits faster and more accessible, especially for facilities in remote and rural areas. Certified centres increased sharply from 6,506 in December 2023 to 22,786 in December 2024, before crossing the 50,000 mark by the end of 2025.

A large number of certified facilities are Ayushman Arogya Mandirs operating at the primary care level, along with several district and sub-district hospitals and community health centres that provide secondary care.

A senior health ministry official said the achievement reflects India’s effort to build a more dependable and patient-friendly public health system, particularly for communities that rely heavily on government healthcare services. “The goal is to make quality care a standard feature, not an exception,” the official said.

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The government has now set a new target to ensure that at least half of all public healthcare facilities receive NQAS certification by March 2026, as part of its broader plan to embed quality and accountability across the health system nationwide.

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