Care, courage & clinical excellence take centre stage

Judging excellence in maternal healthcare is not like judging most things. The numbers, whether around delivery volumes, success rates, bed counts, etc., are the starting point, far from the verdict. When the jury members for the Times Future of Maternity Awards 2026 convened for final evaluation of nominees across 13 categories, the tougher questions were around what the data and information shared by nominees concealed, for instance, whether an IVF couple was counselled together, whether a woman in preterm labour was spoken to with respect, whether a hospital that recorded zero maternal deaths also initiated breastfeeding within the first hour, and more. The four-member jury, with each of them having a distinct clinical lens to evaluate the nominees, shared how they picked the winners for the 2026 awards. A two-step process was involved in selecting the awardees. The first step involved picking the top two contenders from entries received in respective categories before getting into extensive deliberations on picking the winner, chosen through a secret ballot. Importantly, where a conflict of interest existed, jurors withdrew from both discussion and voting. Prof. (Dr) Dinesh Kumar Yadav, Professor and Head of Paediatrics at ABVIMS & Dr RML Hospital, underscored maternity care as a long-term investment for the country. “It is not the safety of the birth process, it’s not the skilled manpower being present over there, but the eventual outcome that you have a healthy child, which could grow up to be a good resource,” he said. With around 25 million annual births in India, Dr Yadav said that the scope of evaluation should extend to adolescent health, nutrition, and immunisation, which are the foundations laid long before a woman becomes pregnant. For hospitals, Dr. Madhu Goel, Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Fortis La Femme, analysed a detailed checklist of NICU, blood bank, OT and LDR status, infection protocols, emergency response, rapid response teams, imaging facilities, fetal medicine specialists, and more. However, she kept returning to something the checklist couldn’t capture – women are not percentage. “When an individual patient comes to you, they want everything to be perfect.” Dr Goel narrated a scenario that any clinician would label a success – a preterm baby, unexpected but healthy at the end – that the mother didn’t experience as one. Bridging that gap, she said, is about communication. “The single most important thing is communication.” Prof. (Dr.) Manju Puri, Senior Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at SGT University, said she evaluated nominees through the lens of indicators while drawing a clear distinction between counting and measuring. For instance, she said, a hemoglobin test is a process indicator, but whether the woman arrived at childbirth without anemia is a meaningful one. “It is not the numbers. Numbers are there, big numbers are there in the public sector. So it is the outcome indicators which we look at.” Dr Puri assessed nominees on maternal mortality rates, complication rates, perinatal outcomes, partogram maintenance, facility readiness and response times, and whether respectful care was provided. Care, she pointed out, costs nothing while quality improvement, in her framework, doesn’t require large budgets or infrastructure overhauls. “It requires identifying what’s broken, fixing the lowest-hanging problems first, and sustaining the improvement rather than treating it as a one-time exercise.” In fertility and reproductive care, Prof. (Dr) Surveen Ghumman Sindhu, Senior Director and Head of IVF and Reproductive Medicine at MAX Group of Hospitals, evaluated to what extent the centres provided care beyond clinical outcomes. “It is not just the woman who is grieving, it is the man who is grieving also. He is in depression. So how many of us actually look at the husband and say, okay, I need to talk to you about things also.” Dr Sindhu was equally pointed about language, for instance, telling a patient her IVF cycle failed lands differently from telling her it didn’t work this time. “Failed means she failed.” Good fertility care, in her assessment, starts three to six months before treatment begins with preconception counselling, anemia correction, thyroid checks, and runs through to how a negative result is communicated. The winners across the 13 categories of the Times Future of Maternity Awards 2026 were those who came closest to meeting this standard. In other words, it was not just about infrastructure and outcomes, but the quality of care a patient experiences when things go as planned, and the quality of communication she receives when they don’t. Here is the complete list of winners across Gold, Silver & Bronze categories: 1.Comprehensive Maternity Hospital of the Year (Regional)

2.Nutritionist of the Year

3.Fertility & Reproductive Medicine Centre of the Year

4.High-Risk Pregnancy & Maternal Critical Care Centre of the Year

5.Baby Care Brand of the Year

6.Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Year

7.Best Mother & Child Hospital in India for Comprehensive Care

8.Maternal Health Policy, Advocacy & Systems Impact Award 9.Fetal Medicine Specialist of the Year

10.Center of Excellence for Women’s Health 11.Fertility Specialist of the Year

12.Transformational Leader in Maternity Healthcare

13.Innovation in Baby Gear & Infant Safety