NEW DELHI, Dec 10:
Health Minister JP Nadda today announced forming of a ‘Working Group’ by the ministry with private sector players to develop alternate health care models under public-private partnership in a time bound manner.
Addressing 12th India Health Summit, Nadda said the Working Group is aimed at collaborating with the private sector to use their expertise for achieving country’s health goals. “We get wonderful ideas from the companies. We have been interacting with each other. But the problem is we discuss and disperse. There is no concrete approach on how we would go about it.
“Therefore, I declare to form a Working Group with the ministry and the private leaders to come up with alternate and rare PPP models in a time bound manner,” he said.
He said the Working Group will break the barriers to help government collaborate with private sector. “Many new ideas come but they need to be examined. And this is only possible if we hold intense discussions on issues, understanding about them and see how successful models can come up,” the minister said.
Nadda said government needs special support from private health leaders in areas like infrastructure, alternative finance arrangements, skills and insurance issues.
“We really need to discuss these areas and decide how we will go forward. As you are the leaders in the health industry and catering to 70 per cent of the health care, you have a major role to play and your support will be useful. IT and accessibility are the areas where we can go forward among others,” he said. He said stakeholders are important for key interventions to improve the health care system as the government faces several challenges. “We work under certain challenges. We can view, address and share the problems but stakeholders are the persons who know where and how the interventions are required to make the health care facilities better,” he said.
Nadda said government has identified 184 high burden districts which need special attention in term of health care services.
“Government has mapped out 184 districts which are high focus districts which need great attention. If we are able to address the issues of these regions, we will improve the health parameters of the country,” the minister said.
Speaking about various challenges faced by the government in health care system, Nadda said variation between health facilities in rural and urban areas, inequity in public and private health facilities and financial problems are some of the major issues. “There is a great variation of health services in rural and urban area. There has been more concentration on urban areas while the rural are unattended. So we are trying to focus on that. Then there is inequity between public and private health services. Though 70 per cent of the needs catered by private sector, we face difficulty in regulating them,” he said.
Nadda also expressed concern about the lack of health infrastructure in eastern part of the country.
“North and Eastern parts of the country need special attention as they still lack important health facilities. Whereas southern and western parts are doing good as they have better infrastructure and educational institutes,” he said. (PTI)
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