Effective PPPs Can Bridge gaps in healthcare delivery

Of India’s nearly 80,000 hospitals, only about 4,000 are fully accredited, while a large number of medium and small hospitals operate in tier-4 and tier-5 cities.In 2025, NABH conducted around 400 outreach programmes in smaller cities to promote basic quality practices such as hand hygiene and surgical safety checklists. It has also urged state govts and municipalities to adopt Samarpan, a collective pledge encouraging community ownership of patient safety.NABH has also launched Gunvata Mitra, a consultancy wing to support small and first-time hospitals in beginning their quality journey. The board plans to train one lakh hospital staff, including nurses and paramedics, over the next year through low-cost and free training programmes. “It took 20 years to skill 1.5 lakh professionals, but digital platforms will now help us add one lakh trained quality managers and quality champions every year,” said Dr KochharMeanwhile, Dr Madhu Sasidhar, president and CEO of Apollo Hospitals’ hospital division, said accreditation alone is not enough. “Hospitals may meet minimum standards through accreditation, but as healthcare becomes more complex, patient safety must be driven by continuous processes that go beyond accreditation,” he said.Experts also pointed out that nearly 30 lakh deaths globally occur each year due to unsafe care, with one in four patients harmed in low- and middle-income countries. “When we talk about sharing learning and improving systems, we have to start with the truth that patients are not homogeneous. Different patients live in different worlds, and safety means different things in each,” said Jayesh Ranjan, special chief secretary for the industries & commerce and information technology departments. “An equity lens forces a design lens. If we want patient safety to hold up in the real world, we must design for those who are most vulnerable, and we must plan for continuity, access, and how people actually behave,” he added.