📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Prime Minister's Office
Health
Ayushman Scheme Bars Non‑NABH Hospitals; 300 MP Facilities May Lose Coverage
✍️ Bhaskar English
🗓 01 Oct 2026, 10:02 AM
👁 18
The Ayushman Bharat scheme will deny treatment at hospitals that lack NABH accreditation, putting around 300 facilities in Madhya Pradesh at risk of exclusion.
The central government has announced a new eligibility criterion for hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). Effective immediately, only institutions that have obtained National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) certification will be allowed to provide cash‑less treatment to scheme beneficiaries.
State health officials in Madhya Pradesh say the rule could affect roughly 300 private and charitable hospitals that currently serve a large share of Ayushman patients but do not hold NABH accreditation. These hospitals risk being removed from the network, which would halt their participation in the scheme and deny patients access to free treatment at those locations.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has not disclosed a timeline for compliance, but it expects hospitals to secure accreditation within a stipulated period. Authorities have urged affected facilities to begin the certification process promptly to avoid service disruption.
If the hospitals fail to meet the new standard, the Ayushman scheme will continue to cover treatment only at NABH‑accredited institutions, reinforcing the government's push for quality assurance across the public‑private health ecosystem.
State health officials in Madhya Pradesh say the rule could affect roughly 300 private and charitable hospitals that currently serve a large share of Ayushman patients but do not hold NABH accreditation. These hospitals risk being removed from the network, which would halt their participation in the scheme and deny patients access to free treatment at those locations.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has not disclosed a timeline for compliance, but it expects hospitals to secure accreditation within a stipulated period. Authorities have urged affected facilities to begin the certification process promptly to avoid service disruption.
If the hospitals fail to meet the new standard, the Ayushman scheme will continue to cover treatment only at NABH‑accredited institutions, reinforcing the government's push for quality assurance across the public‑private health ecosystem.