PM calls for more public-private partnerships in health sector

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for more public-private partnerships in providing affordable healthcare in the country.     

 "The private sector has always played a dominant role in provision of healthcare services in the country," the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the first Apollo Reach Hospital at Karim Nagar in Andhra Pradesh through a telelink here.      

Stating that the challenge of providing quality health care in a country like India was 'complex', Singh said "good healthcare services are not simply a matter of availability of healthcare providers but they also depend on a number of factors, like, water supply, sanitation, education and infant nutrition".      

The government was getting positive results on the ground through the National Rural Health Mission, which addressed serious deficiencies in rural public health system, Singh said.   

The PM congratulated Apollo Group of Hospitals for initiating a project with an aim to provide proper healthcare to semi-urban and rural India in the future and said it would mark a new beginning in reaching to the unserved and underserved in the area of health services.