Public-private partnership booster for UP's health sector

UP’s dismal performance on the health front has been sliding further with scams in its NRHM implementation, murders of senior health officials

The public-private partnership (PPP) model will soon permeate the rickety health-sector in Uttar Pradesh.

Under the top-down approach, the state government would rollout diagnostic centres at the district headquarters level and percolate to community healthcare centres.

In the first phase, 18 regional diagnostic centres would be set up and later around 75 district hospitals would be covered under the scheme.

“Going forward, we would set up such units at the primary healthcare centres (PHC) and community healthcare centres (CHC) levels,” said Mukesh Meshram, mission director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), UP, while speaking to told Business Standard.

There would be no diagnostic charges for Below Poverty Line (BPL) people while others would pay only a nominal fee, added Meshram.

In UP, the NRHM has been in news for all the wrong reasons in recent years over massive scams and murders of several medical officers during the previous Mayawati regime. The CBI is probing the scam, while many high-profile persons, including a former state minister are behind bars.

The new state healthcare policy is also ready and awaits the Cabinet nod. “We are hopeful that the new policy gets the Cabinet’s approval soon, so that the rollout of these centres can begin,” he added.

Meshram expressed confidence that the process of bidding for the scheme would be completed by the end of December and all the proposed centres were set up in the following 12 months.

At a recent Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conclave here, he had informed the state had launched UP Health Systems Strengthening Project with World Bank funding of Rs 800 crore. The project involves comprehensive study of the health sector and suitable models for adoption.

He said the government was also considering operating district hospitals, CHCs and launching super specialty clinics/hospitals under PPP mode.

About 150 medical mobile units had already been sanctioned under NRHM to extend the reach of medical services in the remote places.

Through voucher schemes like Merrygold , Merrysilver and Sambhav, the government was trying to provide quality healthcare services to the poor.