NABH Online Applications Portal For CGHS And ECHS

NABH’s online applications portal for CGHS and ECHS is the ECE (ECHS and CGHS Empanelment) portal at ece.nabh.co. Private healthcare organisations use it to apply for the NABH-QCI inspection that the two government health schemes rely on when deciding whether to empanel them. This guide covers who still needs it after the CGHS rule changes of December 2025, what to prepare and how each step works.

Purpose of the NABH Portal

The Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) covers serving and retired central government employees and their families. The Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) covers ex-servicemen pensioners and their dependants. Under memoranda of understanding with both schemes, NABH-QCI inspects applicant facilities against set criteria and sends a recommendation. The decision to empanel, and the agreement with the facility, rest with CGHS or ECHS.

NABH stopped accepting paper applications on 15 November 2022, so the form, documents, fee, replies to non-compliances and status updates all go through the portal.

Who Needs to Apply

• Allopathic facilities only: private hospitals, eye hospitals and centres, dental clinics, diagnostic laboratories and imaging centres, plus physiotherapy centres for ECHS.
• One application per scheme: a facility seeking both registers twice and receives two application numbers. A “C” in the number marks a CGHS application and an “E” an ECHS one.
• Accredited facilities skip it: under NABH’s notification of 17 February 2026, organisations that already hold NABH accreditation or certification apply directly to CGHS and do not use the ECE portal for CGHS empanelment. NABH’s FAQs say accredited hospitals need not apply separately for ECHS either.

CGHS revised its eligibility criteria in an Office Memorandum dated 22 December 2025 and now takes empanelment applications on its own HEM 2.0 portal; existing hospitals that had not applied or were found ineligible were de-empanelled from 16 September 2026. NABH processes every CGHS application received on or after 22 December 2025 against the revised criteria and closes those that do not meet them, without refunding the fee.

Eligibility at a Glance

NABH’s February 2026 notification summarises the CGHS criteria. The second column also covers the North Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh:

Outside Tier 1 cities, some facilities without these can be provisionally empanelled by CGHS if they obtain them within six months. For the inspection itself, NABH expects laboratory and imaging services for your scope within the premises, whether in-house or outsourced; nurses and resident medical officers in line with Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) for your beds and average occupancy over the last six months; and a full-time or part-time consultant for every specialty you claim. Visiting consultants do not count towards scope.

Documents to Keep Ready

The portal will not accept a submission until every mandatory document is uploaded:

• Registration with the local registering authority, for example under the Clinical Establishments Act.
• Pollution control board authorisation, air and water consents, and the agreement with your biomedical waste collection agency.
• Fire NOC from the competent authority.
• AERB licences for X-ray, CT, C-arm, cath lab and other radiation equipment, the radiation safety officer’s registration, and PC-PNDT registration for ultrasound.
• Drug, narcotic, MTP, blood centre or transplant licences where relevant, staff details with council registrations, and MoUs for outsourced services.

Uploads must be PDF, JPG, JPEG or PNG files of up to 5 MB each. Our list of hospital licences required in India covers the statutory side in more detail.

How to Apply, Step by Step

1. Register at ece.nabh.co with the facility’s name, email address, mobile number and bed strength, and verify with the OTP sent to both. Login details arrive by email.
2. Complete scheme selection after setting your own password. Details on this form cannot be edited once it is submitted.
3. Fill in the application within 30 days of registration, or it is deactivated and you must register again. Every section is mandatory. Save often and use one device, as switching devices can lose data.
4. Submit and pay by card, UPI or NEFT (not demand draft). Payment can take two to three working days to show on the portal.
5. Desktop assessment: an assessor checks the documents and raises any non-compliances.
6. Onsite assessment: always physical, on a date NABH assigns (Monday to Saturday) that you accept on the portal. The facility books the assessors’ economy travel and stay but pays them nothing directly.
7. Committee review: an independent empanelment committee decides whether to recommend the facility. Recommendation letters go in hard copy to the facility and the scheme, and results are listed on the NABH website.

Fees

NABH’s CGHS and ECHS programme pages list these application fees, with 18% GST extra:

Fees are non-refundable, even if an application is rejected or withdrawn. Adding up to three specialties within two years of the original inspection needs only a focus inspection, at ₹15,000 plus GST; after two years the facility must apply afresh.

Handling Non-Compliance (NC)

NABH emails you when the desktop assessor raises NCs, shown in red against each section of the form. There is only one cycle: you have 30 days to reply to every NC with a remark and supporting evidence, after which an unanswered application becomes inactive. A rejected desktop assessment means applying again with a new fee. After the onsite visit, the committee may ask for missing documents, shown as “CC document pending”, which must be sent within the deadline given.

Tracking Application Status

The dashboard shows the current stage, such as “DA NC review” (desktop assessment) or “OA scheduled” (onsite assessment). NABH puts the typical turnaround at about 90 days when all documents are complete.

Validity and Renewal

A NABH-QCI recommendation for CGHS is now valid for three years, and an ECHS recommendation for two years from the date of recommendation. For both, apply for renewal on the portal at least six months before expiry. NABH can also inspect without notice, for example after a complaint.

Common Issues and How to Avoid Them

• Wrong category or ineligible facility: check the CGHS criteria for your category and city before paying, since NABH will close the application and keep the fee.
• Partial scope: for non-NABH hospitals there is no empanelment for selected services. Every applicable specialty must be found compliant.
• Consultant list errors: the recommended scope follows the consultant table, so give each consultant’s qualifications and full-time or part-time status accurately.
• Form will not submit: look for the “!” marks that flag empty mandatory fields, recheck PAN and Aadhaar details. If it still fails, clear the browser cache and log in again.

For help, NABH’s empanelment team is at ece@nabh.co or 011-42600600.

Official sources: Apply on the NABH ECE portal. Requirements and documents are on NABH’s CGHS empanelment programme and ECHS empanelment programme pages, including the February 2026 notification on CGHS eligibility (PDF).

Frequently Asked Questions