Fast-Tracking PPPs

Pragmatic PPP projects are the need of the hour to strengthen the healthcare ecosystem in the country

- Prathiba Raju

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is a two-way street, and in healthcare both the government and the private sector need to fast-forward the PPP process as they have the potential to drastically change the healthcare landscape in India. A pragmatic, balanced framework with realistic, risk-sharing and robust dispute mechanisms and reasonable exit norms can help synergise the government and the private segment with a balanced PPP model. This is the need of the hour, according to experts.

The National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 envisages building a strong partnership between the government and the private organisations to strengthen overall functioning and efficiency of the health system. The policy also talks about strategic purchasing by the government to fill critical gaps in public health facilities and outlines the process of creating a demand for private healthcare sector in alignment with public health goals.

Assuring that the PPP model can provide the much-required fillip to public health infrastructure in India, Dr Ajay Rajan Gupta, MD and Group CEO, Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) said, “As per available industry estimates, to address the issues plaguing Indian healthcare, an investment of Ì€ 150,000 crore is required, of which 80 percent is likely to come from the private sector, primarily under the PPP model. The government has promised to increase state contribution from one percent to 2.5 percent over a period, and we feel this will mainly be in primary healthcare. However, linking of this system with secondary, tertiary hospitals which are primarily in larger towns will need to be done by private sector both for private and government hospitals. Good policy initiatives from the government will attract private investment in health infrastructure by making it a viable business.”