The National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Health Care Providers accreditation programme in India.

Quality in health care is important as it is directly linked with patient safety. Quality as we know is driven either by regulation or by market demand. Regulation in most developing countries has not been effective, as there is shortage of health care providers and governments have to be flexible. In such circumstances, quality has taken a back seat. Accreditation symbolizes the framework for quality governance of a hospital and is based on optimum standards. Not only is India establishing numerous state of the art hospitals, but they are also experiencing an increase in demand for quality as well as medical tourism. India launched its own accreditation system in 2006, conforming to standards accredited by ISQua. This article shows the journey to accreditation in India and describes the problems encountered by hospitals as well as the benefits it has generated for the industry and patients.