Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH on Sunday welcomed the government's National Building Construction Standards (NBCS) 2026, stating that the new norms, which ease height restrictions for hospitals, are expected to reduce infrastructure bottlenecks and improve access to healthcare, as reported by PTI.
Key Changes in NBCS 2026
The revised standards allow hospitals to build beyond earlier height limits and permit Intensive Care Units (ICUs) above 45 metres, subject to enhanced fire safety provisions. According to NATHEALTH, this move is expected to address structural constraints such as high land costs, limited bed capacity, and underutilisation of existing infrastructure, especially in urban centres.
Industry Response
NATHEALTH President Sangita Reddy, who is also Group Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Group, said the new NBCS 2026 rules mark an important step in building future-ready healthcare infrastructure in India. “By unlocking much-needed capacity across the healthcare ecosystem, it will enable hospitals to operate more efficiently and optimise cost benefits that can ultimately be passed on to patients, while maintaining the highest standards of safety,” Reddy added.
The industry body said the reform would also help hospitals make better use of existing facilities, reducing dependence on new greenfield projects that are expensive and time-consuming. This, it said, is expected to improve operational efficiency and gradually help lower treatment costs for patients.
Addressing Long-Standing Challenges
For years, high land prices and restrictive building regulations have prevented hospitals from optimising infrastructure, often resulting in fewer beds than needed to meet rising demand, NATHEALTH noted. The revised standards are expected to unlock additional capacity through vertical expansion while maintaining robust patient safety norms.
The new norms are seen as a significant step toward resolving infrastructure bottlenecks in the healthcare sector, particularly in densely populated urban areas where land is scarce and expensive. By allowing vertical expansion, hospitals can increase bed capacity without acquiring additional land, thereby reducing costs and improving access to care.
NATHEALTH emphasised that the enhanced fire safety provisions ensure that patient safety remains paramount, even as hospitals build higher. The industry body believes that this balanced approach will encourage more hospitals to adopt vertical construction, ultimately benefiting patients through improved availability of services and potentially lower treatment costs.
