Public Private Partnerships for Healthcare Delivery in India

Healthcare delivery is a major concern for India and other developing nations because of the lack of infrastructure and limited resources. Often the healthcare delivery is restricted in reach and most vulnerable populations remain untouched. The ambitious health goals for the country demand the need for an alternate system, which encourage the private and non-state players to engage in partnerships with the state run public healthcare delivery institutions. The current system of India also needs to be flexible and should be able to adapt to the changing health needs as well as respond to the risks and opportunities that may come in the future. A new mechanism in the form of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in healthcare delivery is being encouraged by the government. Such PPPs are being viewed as social experiments which can supplement the state run health services by engaging private players. These partnerships are based on different models and share different relationships with the other state and non-state players. It is also believed that the drawbacks of private healthcare delivery can be mitigated to an extent by these PPPs. The SAP-LAP analysis of the Indian healthcare system shows that such PPPs can be successful if sustainable models are promoted. There is also a need for a clear guideline or policy in formulating PPPs as these models tend to be quite varied in nature, scope and delivery.