NABH Entry-Level Certification for Hospitals and SHCOs (2nd Edition)

Who should choose entry-level certification

Entry-level certification suits allopathic hospitals that want NABH recognition quickly and affordably: new hospitals completing their first year, nursing homes preparing for PMJAY Silver status, and hospitals that intend to move to SHCO or full accreditation within a few years.

To apply, the hospital must:

• offer allopathic services only;
• have been functional for at least six months;
• have implemented the NABH standards for at least three months;
• include every service it offers in the application — NABH applies an all-or-none principle.

Excluded: AYUSH facilities (they have their own entry-level programme), standalone dental clinics (dental entry-level), physiotherapy, diagnostics and pathology, psychology, diabetology and de-addiction centres, hospitals under six months old, and hospitals spread across several buildings or locations under separate statutory licences.

How the 2nd Edition is structured

Standards are grouped into Core, Commitment and Excellence. The levels you are assessed on depend on your bed strength, whether you are a new or renewing applicant, and the cycle. A new hospital of 1 to 50 beds, for instance, is assessed on Core standards in its first assessment and on Core plus Commitment at its first renewal. This staircase is deliberate: each renewal asks a little more, so certification becomes a path to full accreditation rather than an end point.

Occupancy norms

For standalone day-care centres, day-care beds count as census beds. These figures come from NABH's notification of 20 January 2026; our occupancy norms guide shows how to calculate occupancy.

NABH fees

Plus 18% GST. Focus assessments cost ₹15,000 and certificate re-issue ₹6,000. NABH ran discounted fees for several bands until 30 September 2026; check nabh.co for any current offer.

NABH E-Mitra and where a consultant fits

NABH provides E-Mitra, a free online tool with sample policies, department guidelines, forms and assessment guidance for entry-level applicants. It is a genuinely useful starting point. What it cannot do is adapt those documents to your hospital, train your night-shift nurses, fix your biomedical waste practice or tell you honestly whether you are ready. That is the work we do — usually alongside E-Mitra, not instead of it.

This page in Hindi: NABH एंट्री लेवल सर्टिफिकेशन.

Typical timeline

For an operational small hospital, entry-level certification typically takes 4 to 6 months from our first gap analysis: about a month to set up documentation and fix licences, the mandatory three months of implementation with training and audits, then the application, desktop review and on-site assessment.