Govt mulls pros & cons of PPP but will it aid health sector?

Raipur: The state govt is considering the feasibility of implementing the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode in the health sector. The state will thoroughly evaluate the pros and cons of the model before coming up with a concrete proposal, said health minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal in response to a query from The Times of India."We are considering the PPP model for the health sector—whether govt hospitals can be operated under this model, provided it serves the public interest. Whatever is in the interest of the people of the state, this govt will pursue. It is too early to say that we have any concrete proposal in hand to implement the PPP model in the health sector. ‘Hum yeh keh sakte hain ki hum vichar kar rahe hain' (we can say that we are considering it)," the Minister said, when asked about the 2018 statement made by former health minister Ajay Chandrakar regarding the model.Critics in the public health sector ask for evidence on whether the model will work. They point out that pilot projects in states like MP and others have failed to meet expectations in the past.In 2018, the state govt decided to establish six 100-bed hospitals—two of them in the state capital Raipur—under the PPP mode to provide quality healthcare facilities to the public. Then health minister Ajay Chandrakar directed officials to initiate the process and build the hospitals on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. After a stipulated period, the hospitals were to be handed over to the health and family welfare department.However, after the 2018 Assembly elections, the govt changed and the Congress came to power in the state. The proposal was subsequently shelved. The current health minister reiterated that the state is re-evaluating PPP.