National Health Systems Resource Centre

The National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC) is the technical support institute for India's National Health Mission. It was set up in 2007 to help shape health policy and strategy, to provide and mobilise technical assistance for the states, and to build capacity for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Its work covers primary health care and community health, health financing, healthcare technology, human resources for health, public health administration, quality assurance and health IT. NHSRC writes guidelines, standards, evaluations and training material that state health systems use to plan and run public health services. It has its own Governing Body and Executive Committee, and it runs a Regional Resource Centre for the North Eastern States.

Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi, India

Major Areas of Work

• Community Processes and Comprehensive Primary Health Care: Support for the ASHA programme, community platforms and the wider rollout of comprehensive primary health care.

• Healthcare Financing: Health spending estimates, financing indicators and studies on how health care in India is paid for.

• Healthcare Technology: Diagnostics, dialysis, biomedical equipment maintenance, health technology assessment and the safety monitoring of medical devices.

• Quality and Patient Safety: Quality standards and certification for public health facilities, patient safety work and standard treatment guidelines.

• Human Resources for Health and Public Health Administration: Strengthening HR systems in states and UTs, integrated health planning, public health management cadres and legal frameworks for health.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS): Quality standards for public health facilities, with certification of facilities that meet them.

• LaQshya and Kayakalp: Quality improvement for labour rooms and maternity operation theatres (LaQshya), and recognition of public facilities for cleanliness, hygiene and eco-friendly practices (Kayakalp).

• Free Drugs and Free Diagnostics Service Initiatives: Support for states to offer essential medicines and diagnostic tests free of cost at public health facilities.

• Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Program: Support for dialysis services at district hospitals, free of cost for poor patients.

• National Health Accounts: NHSRC's estimates of total and government health spending in India, published with a set of healthcare financing indicators.

• Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) 2022: Standards for public health facilities at each level of care, with model facility layouts.

NQAS takes up much of NHSRC's public-facing work. Its Quality and Patient Safety division maintains the standards, trains external assessors in regular batches that end with a post-training evaluation exam, and publishes the list of NQAS-certified facilities.

NHSRC works close to national health policy. Its staff work with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and state health departments on standards, assessments, field reviews and training that shape how public health facilities across India are run. It has divisions for health financing, medical technology, quality assurance, community health workers, knowledge management and IT. That range makes it a fit for public health professionals, clinicians, health economists, biomedical engineers, data and IT specialists, and researchers. Roles include consultant, senior consultant and technical officer posts, filled through a written test process. It suits people who want to work on health systems at national scale inside a government-linked institution.