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New Delhi:
Partnership between public and private healthcare providers
requires accessibility, affordability and accountability to take
the benefits to rural areas, health experts said Wednesday.
"Health has been on the back burner in our country. A sense of
urgency is required to bring both government and private companies
(together for) action. To make healthcare accessible, we need to
take affordability into account," said Naresh Trehan, chairman and
managing director of Medanta - the medicity.
Representatives from health care centres in the private sector
such as Apollo hospital, Fortis hospital, Max Hospital and the
World Bank gathered at a forum on making public health accessible.
"The existing healthcare infrastructure in rural areas is totally
insufficient in terms of services. The influx to urban areas in
search of better treatment is bound to happen," Trehan added.
Echoing Trehan's view, Anupam Sibal, group medical director of
Apollo hospitals, said: "I think accreditation should be
popularized for rural health care centres also. Only then we can
have a sense of quality amongst heath centres in rural regions."
According to a National Rural Health mission report, there are
nearly 25,000 primary health centres in the country. The report
said that the centres are facing a manpower crunch.
"Policy-oriented and technology-driven changes need to come from
the private stake holders, while the government can help in their
implementation," added Sibal.
A white paper was also released in the forum, after a nationwide
study on the status of the healthcare was conducted by a
consultancy firm.
According to the study, over 3.2 percent of the population is
driven to poverty every year due to healthcare expenditure.
Urban areas have six times more doctors per capita as compared to
rural areas, the study said.
The forum, organized by Technopak management consultancy, saw
participation from various government hospitals and medical
representatives in the country.
"The government needs to get into a mission mode to improve health
services in the country. That's one way to reduce the gap between
demand and supply of services," Arvind Singhal, chairman of
Technopak, told IANS.
Representatives from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),
Ram Manohar Lohia hospital and Safdarjung Hospital were also
present at the forum.
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