An accreditation system promises to soon raise the standards of healthcare in India and help patients, including foreigners, choose hospitals on the basis of their facilities.

"The healthcare sector is all set to see some regulation and standardisation through a system of accreditation," the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a statement here Tuesday.

"A draft report pertaining to this was submitted on Monday by Naresh Trehan, chairman of CII's national healthcare committee, to the Quality Council of India (QCI)."

The report was prepared by a taskforce constituted jointly by CII's healthcare committee and Indian Healthcare Federation to look into accreditation for hospitals.

"The draft seeks to incorporate standards right from a nursing home to a top tertiary care hospital in order to make this all inclusive and across the spectrum," Trehan said in the statement.

The accreditation system will contain "checks and measures so that there is accountability by hospitals in the standards they maintain".

QCI, an autonomous body created by an act of parliament, will review the draft and throw it open for discussions.

According to Y.P. Bhatia, CEO of Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and chairman of the task force, many global standards such as the Joint Commission International (JCI) as well as Australian and Thai accreditation standards were studied for framing the draft.

"The taskforce tried to take the best from each system while keeping in mind that the recommendations need to suit the Indian system," Bhatia said.

Accreditation is a process by which a governmental or non-governmental agency grants recognition to healthcare institutions that meet certain standards.

"If India has to become a medical destination of the world and increase the confidence of the health insurance sector, accreditation would be needed soon," the statement said.