National Rural Health Mission (NHM) was launched in the year 2005 to strengthen the Rural Public Health System and has since met many hopes and expectations. The Mission seeks to provide effective health care to the rural populace throughout the country with special focus on the States and Union Territories (UTs), which have weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. Towards this end, the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) for Sub-centres, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), Sub-District and District Hospitals were published in January/ February, 2007 and have been used as the reference point for public health care infrastructure planning and up-gradation in the States and UTs. IPHS are a set of uniform standards envisaged to improve the quality of health care delivery in the country. The IPHS documents have been revised keeping in view the changing protocols of the existing programmes and introduction of new programmes especially for Non-Communicable Diseases. Flexibility is allowed to suit the diverse needs of the States and regions. These IPHS guidelines will act as the main driver for continuous improvement in quality and serve as the bench mark for assessing the functional status of health facilities. States and UTs should adopt these IPHS guidelines for strengthening the Public Health Care Institutions and put in their best efforts to achieve high quality of health care across the country.
Sub Centers
Primay Health Centre
Community Health Centre
Sub-district & Sub-divisional Hospital
District Hospital