State bets big on PPP in healthcare sector

The government of Gujarat is aiming high on the public private partnership (PPP) model for the healthcare sector in coming years as technology-driven medical services are expected to bring a makeover to the state's image by making it a hub for medical tourism. Jaynarayan Vyas, minister for health and family welfare expressed high hopes from the medical tourism business in the state, which is expected to become the medical capital of India.

"The medical tourism in Gujarat will flourish with more and more technology-driven treatments being available in the state. This is the state which will be known in the world for its medical tourism by 2025. Gujarat has a potential to attract at least one million medical tourists every year. For this, joint participation of private sector and public sector is crucial," said Vyas at a conference on Public Private Partnership Policy Framework, jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the government of Gujarat in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

The one-day conference discussed the need and prospects of the PPP model in the medical infrastructure and treatment delivery system. "There is no other way but to bring a PPP model for healthcare sector. The government sits on one of the largest infrastructures and a partnership with private players will bring in better staffing and managerial expertise," said Vivek Desai, chairman, CII WR healthcare sub-committee and MD, Hosmac India Pvt Ltd.

The minister further maintained that the compulsions of technology-driven treatments would make the public sector to look at private sector for capital and technology, while the private sector would look up to public sector for patient pool, thereby making the PPP model imminent for the effective medical infrastructure.

He added, "We are lagging in the medical education. Even if we are able to create the best of the infrastructure, the soul is still missing and that is expert doctors. This is when we are forced to innovate and come up with schemes like Bal Sakha and Samaydaan for making expert doctors available for the larger sphere of the society."