How to verify an Indian hospital’s accreditation from abroad

How do I check an Indian hospital’s accreditation?

Six checks, in order — the first three take under ten minutes:

1. 1

   Search the NABH directory itself

   NABH (the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers, India’s national accreditation board) publishes a “Find an Accredited Healthcare Organisation” search on nabh.co. Search the hospital’s exact registered name — group sites often say “NABH accredited” for a group while the accreditation belongs to specific units.

2. 2

   Ask the hospital for the certificate copy

   An accredited hospital can email its current NABH certificate. Check the certificate’s facility address matches the unit treating you, the accreditation level (full accreditation vs entry-level certification — they are different standards), and the valid-until date. Accreditations expire; a 2019 certificate proves history, not currency.

3. 3

   For JCI claims, check against JCI Quality Check

   Joint Commission International maintains a public Quality Check tool listing currently accredited organizations. JCI accreditation is genuinely rare — a few dozen Indian hospitals hold it — so treat an unverifiable JCI claim as a red flag, not a detail.

4. 4

   Check the laboratory separately if labs matter to your case

   NABL (the accreditation board for testing and calibration laboratories) accredits labs under its own directory. A hospital can hold NABH while its labs are unaccredited; if your diagnosis depends on pathology, ask for the lab’s NABL status by name.

5. 5

   Understand what accreditation does not prove

   Accreditation audits systems — documentation, safety processes, infection control discipline. It does not rank surgeons, assure outcomes, or tell you whether the specific department treating you is strong. It clears a floor; it does not answer your case.

6. 6

   Finish the job with the case-level checks

   Department volume for your procedure, the treating specialist’s medical-council registration, and an itemized quote you can verify — these are the checks accreditation cannot do for you, and they are the three checks every Medtu shortlist runs.

Registry links: nabh.co — Find an Accredited Healthcare Organisation · JCI Quality Check · NABL. All accessed October 2026.

What accreditation does not tell you

This is where a verification guide would normally stop, and where the real decision starts. Accreditation says the hospital’s systems passed an audit. It does not say the department treating your condition is its strongest, that the surgeon has done your procedure at volume, or that the quote you receive will be readable. Those are case-level questions, and they need case-level answers: department volume, specialist registration, and an itemized quote locked in writing. Our facilitator-questions page lists the full set, and our quote red-flags guide covers the quoting end in detail.