The Hindu Business Line : Call for new approaches in public healthcare

Calling for new approaches in reforming the country's Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Mr N. Vaghul, Chairman of ICICI Bank, has advocated setting up a parallel, private sector driven health infrastructure to supplement and expand the existing network to reach more numbers of needy people.

At the International Knowledge Millennium Conference on `Improving Public Health in India: Need for Innovative Solutions in Healthcare Delivery' organised by ICICI Knowledge Park here on Tuesday, Mr Vaghul said the solution perhaps was also in not bothering too much about existing inefficiencies in the public healthcare system.

Drawing a parallel with the banking sector, he recalled how ICICI had transitioned into a large, countrywide network, innovated, and ushered in competition and a growing number of private bankers to reach a large number of people in the country. This could be a lesson in the healthcare and education sectors as well.

Dr Gerald T. Keusch, Director, Global Health Initiative, Boston University said government-private sector-NGO connections were needed to ensure effective healthcare delivery.

He also advocated the use of technology to reach the benefits faster and over a larger geographical area. There should be seamless connectivity between emerging knowledge and existing practices.

Giving a contrary view, Dr R. Balasubramaniam, President, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement, Mysore, in his keynote address said the public-private model in the healthcare sector had been reduced to handing over Government hospitals and infrastructure to the private sector. The private sector was also turning into a totally unregulated enterprise, taking healthcare beyond the reach of the poor.

At least in the public sector, healthcare network, facilities and qualified personnel exist, and on paper it contributes to 80 per cent of the healthcare delivery.