Niti Aayog plans linking pvt medical colleges with district hospitals

A public-private partnership model will be taken up to address shortage of qualified doctors

To address shortage of qualified doctors and bridge gap in medical education, the Niti Aayog has come out with the public-private partnership model to link new or existing private medical colleges with functional district hospital to augment medical seats.

In its draft 'Model Concession Agreement for Setting Up Medical Colleges Under the Public Private Partnership' guideline document, the government think-tank said a concession agreement has been developed based on international best practices and similar PPP arrangements that are operative in Gujarat and Karnataka.

"India has a dire shortage of qualified doctors. It is practically not possible for the Central/state government to bridge the gaps in the medical education with their limited resources and finances.

"This necessitates formulating a public private partnership (PPP) model by combining the strengths of public and private sectors. Accordingly, a scheme to link new and/or existing private medical colleges with functional district hospitals through PPP would augment medical seats and also rationalise the costs of medical education," the document said.

It further said that under this envisioned model, a concessionaire shall design, build, finance, operate and maintain the medical college and also upgrade, operate and maintain the associated district hospital with a minimum annual student intake of 150 MBBS seats.

"In consideration of making available the healthcare services, to the category of patients other than free patients, the concessionaire shall have the right to collect, appropriate and demand hospital charges...the concessionaire shall display the rates for the healthcare services, including the daily rate, for the bed occupancy in the district hospital at a place where it is visible to all," according to the guideline document.

It further said the concessionaire shall be allowed to charge Rs 10 as registration fees from the free patients.

"The concessionaire shall provide all healthcare services to the free patient, free of cost," the guideline document said.

Stakeholders can provide their written comments by or before January 10.