Despite the efforts by the Quality Council of India and the incentives by the Ministry of Tourism, the wellness centres in the country are reluctant to apply for the accreditation by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), in comparison to other healthcare establishments.
During the last three years after the accreditation was introduced, only five wellness centres have secured the certificates while 12 others have applied for the certification which was aimed at ensuring better quality for the centres as per the international standards.
The centres which got accreditation so far are Kaya Skin Clinic (Juhu, Mumbai), Kaya Skin Clinic (Peddar Road, Mumbai), Sanjeeva Medical Spa, Best Western Premier Vedic Village Spa Resort (Kolkata), R The Spa, Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel (New Delhi) and VLCC Healthcare Limited (Gurgaon).
Lack of awareness among the wellness centres, even by those who are attracting large number of travellers from abroad, is one of the reasons for the slow progress in the scheme, according sources in the NABH which has been holding workshops and meetings for the spas, Ayurveda centres, yoga and naturopathy centres, fitness centres, skin care centres etc.
Ministry of Tourism is giving privileged incentives for NABH Accredited Wellness Centres and Accredited Ayurveda Hospitals. Under the Scheme, “Mark of Excellence” is being provided to the accredited wellness centres distinguishing them from other non accredited entities, aimed at providing confidence to the international tourists and local tourists that the centres are providing services as per global standards and by credentialed staff (qualified and trained) and rights of customers are protected where the emphasis is on infection control practices and environment safety aspects.
Wellness entities that would opt for wellness accreditation programme provided by NABH would feature on the incredible India website. All accredited entities will be linked to accredited centers website from the listing. Display of NABH Mark of Excellence and Ministry of Tourism approved logo at appropriate locations and listing of Accredited Wellness entities on Incredible India stalls in approved National & International wellness & spa conferences are some of the incentives.
Accreditation Standards for Wellness Centres prepared by the technical committee contains complete set of standards for evaluation of Wellness Centres for grant of accreditation. The standards provide framework for quality of care for customers and quality improvement for Wellness Centres. The standards help to build a quality culture at all level and across all the functions of Wellness Centre. NABH Standards has ten chapters incorporating 84 standards and 396 objective elements.
The standards focus on all aspects of service delivery like customer rights and education, infection control practices, trained and experienced staff, infrastructure, environment safety, processes and controls among many others, statutory and regulatory compliances.