Notwithstanding the presence of a large number of Ayurvedic hospitals in the country, the certification programme launched by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) is yet to capture the attention of many, contrary to the rush of allopathic hospitals for accreditation. Out of the around 2,400 Ayurveda hospitals in the country, only one has got NABH certification so far.

Only one hospital has been given the certification while five others have applied for the same so far after almost a year into the scheme. “The applications are under various stages of evaluation while we are making all-out efforts to spread awareness among the Ayurveda hospitals as it is going to be an important tool to ascertain the quality of individual institutions,’’ said an official from the NABH.

Bangalore-based AyurVAID Hospitals, recently, got the accreditation as the first to get it in the country. Moolchand Hospital, Delhi, Maharishi Ayurved Hospital, Delhi, Rajah Island Ayurvedic Hospital, Trichur, Kerala, Rajah Beach Ayurvedic Hospital, Trichur, Kerala, and Rajah Healthy Acres Ayurvedic Hospital, Palakad, Kerala have applied for the certification.

However, compared to the response which NABH with a similar programme could make in the allopathic sector, the scheme did not make much impact so far with the Ayurveda sector. There are 2,400 Ayurveda hospitals in the country and only one has got it so far. In the case of allopathic hospitals, 63 got accreditation while nearly 400 have applied for the same after the certification programme was introduced five years back.

“We are holding seminars, visits, and orientation programmes to encourage the ayurvedic hospitals to apply for the certification as the Indian streams of medicine are getting wider recognition across the globe and more patients are coming from abroad. The accreditation will remove some of the apprehensions among the foreign visitors about the quality of services by these traditional hospitals,’’ the NABH official said.

The NABH, a constituent board of Quality Council of India (QCI), recently launched the “Accreditation for Ayush Hospitals” in association with the Dept of Ayush, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare a few months back. The NABH accreditation for an Ayurveda hospital is a quality benchmark which ensures critical patient benefits - essentially, safety, efficacy of outcomes, and informed care.