A day after deciding that Uttar Pradesh?s growth rate has to be maintained at 10%, the socialist Samajwadi Party government has started a serious hunt for private partners to carry out major activities, including giving thrust to its social sector initiatives. This is because a staggering 72% of the requirement of the 12th Five Year Plan outlay of approximately R15 lakh crore can only be met with private sector support.
In an attempt to bridge the prevailing gap in the health sector, the state, which has so far failed to keep pace with the demand for better lifestyle for its 200-million population, has decided to come up with a healthcare policy that would work on the PPP model. A daylong workshop seeking recommendations from stakeholders was organised by the World Bank-supported UP Health Systems Strengthening Project.
Speaking on the occasion, chief secretary Jawed Usmani said the government was seriously thinking of joining hands with the private sector to strengthen the ailing healthcare sector. ?PPP is a good way to bridge the gaps in healthcare. The aim of both government and private sector providers is to ensure that healthcare reaches the common man. Both the areas have their advantages and weaknesses and a collaboration between the two parties would add to the positives and mitigate the negatives, besides providing better access of the common man to healthcare services,? he added.
Presenting various models that are currently being followed in various states as well as other countries, representatives of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation explained how a host of services such as hospital management, clinical support and diagnostic services can be updated in the healthcare sector in the state.
Giving a presentation on Rajasthan’s model of ensuring access of generic medicines for the public, Rajasthan Medical Services Corporation MD Shamit Sharma said that if R300 crore can do the job for Rajasthan’s 75-million population, it could also work for UP?s 2-million people.
Talking about the need for such an initiative, former mission director of NRHM Rajeev Kapoor said that various PPP models being implemented across countries. ?Both policy makers as well as private companies need to realise that PPP in health sector is a different experience when compared to PPP in areas such as infrastructure development. It is a social sector and is not as lucrative as the infra sector,? he said.
With core sectors like health, education, nutrition and women empowerment largely being in the state government’s domain, human development index in Uttar Pradesh has been abysmally low over the last many decades. But departing from this conventional mode, the state government has decided to forge partnership in social sectors also, organising a workshop in the state capital to evolve a strategy for a policy on the health sector.
Speaking to FE, an official of the health department said most of the better off and efficiently managed states already have more than 10 years of private partnership with the government in the health sector. ?Major private companies have been working with governments in Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar for many years. And since concurrent evaluation and monitorable outcomes are a part of PPP contracts, these states have taken giant strides in addressing Millennium Development Goals in the social sector, while UP is still grappling with very high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate, and more than 40% of children and women suffering from malnutrition. PPP in UP has to be integrated in the planning process,? he said.
Health and family welfare principal secretary Sanjay Agarwal said that the points of discussion and recommendations at the consultative workshop would be compiled and presented to the chief secretary and chief minister for fine tuning of the draft health policy, which is in the process of being formulated.