‘Today Public Private Partnerships are no longer an option or a privilege but in fact a necessity.’ – Dr Jitender Singh, Minister of State
Confederation of Indian Industry organised the Public Health Conference today and released an infograph report on ‘Addressing 21st Century Health Challenges – Fostering Public Private collaborations’ at New Delhi.
Dr Jitender Singh proposed a high level discussion with Hon’ble Prime Minister, Health Minister and the private sector led by Dr Naresh Trehan to present innovative models for effective public private participation and partnership.
He mentioned the scourge of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to be bigger than challenges faced by communicable diseases primarily due to 2 reasons – the first being NCDs often embed deeper social behavioural challenges and the second being the high cost fact which pushes many families to impoverishment.
Dr Jitender Singh emphasized that PPPs are no longer an option or a privilege but a necessity. The predicament that requires balancing is that today in India urban patients are getting over treated and rural patients remain under treated.
According to Dr Singh – PPPs require the involvement of multiple sectors involving the entire society and greater emphasis must be laid on preventive aspects of disease control.
Dr Naresh Trehan – proposed to Hon’ble Minister the opportunity to present partnering possibilities in order to achieve larger health goals of the nation.
Prof Srinath Reddy concluded the inaugural emphasizing the Public Health Conference’s clarion call for integrated care and concerted action – towards a common commitment to forge strong synergies and partnerships in making Public Health delivery a success.
The infographic report released during this gives an overview of the various gaps that exist in Public Health Delivery and identified areas where the private sector can plug in such gaps through partnerships.
These include Financing and investments in Primary healthcare | Education and training facilities – medical and public health | Availability of essential drugs to all | Expansion of universal health coverage |addressing Health Beyond Healthcare etc.
The report identifies PPPs to be a Game Changer in Public Health Delivery.
CII recently led the first closed door discussions and subsequent submissions to NITI AAYOG on PPPs in offering comprehensive care packages in District Hospitals in 3 identified NCDs – Pulmonology + Oncology + Cardiology).
As part of this NITI AAYOG + MOHFW have announced model contracts to increase the role of private hospitals in treating NCDs in urban India. According to Contract –it will allow private hospitals to bid for 30-year leases over parts of district hospital buildings and land to set up 50- or 100-bed hospitals in towns other than India’s eight largest metropolises.
“The Time is ripe for the Healthcare Sector to forge strong and lasting partnerships with the Government towards achieving targets for Health for All. There is great need for the Government and the Industry to find common platforms and engage in dialogue to achieve this huge task.” According to Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, CII Healthcare Council & Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta – Medicity.
“The scope and meaning of Public Private Partnerships must be expanded against the current public health landscape of the country – partnerships that bring together strengths of each partner to what best they can deliver and not infact merely a contract of convenience between public and private stakeholders who may have ideological disagreements must be advocated widely”, said Prof Srinath Reddy, Chairman, CII Committee on Public Health & President, PHFI.
