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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Health ministry claims it had no say in fine print of Niti Aayog plan to privatise some hospitals -Menaka Rao

Health ministry claims it had no say in fine print of Niti Aayog plan to privatise some hospitals -Menaka Rao

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published Published on Jul 21, 2017   modified Modified on Jul 21, 2017
-Scroll.in

The ministry says it will respond to a draft model contract that has been sent to states for comments.

The Ministry for Health and Family Welfare has said that it will respond to the Niti Aayog’s draft agreement proposing the terms for privatising district hospitals across the country. As Scroll.in reported, the government policy think tank sent a letter to states in June proposing a model by which private companies could potentially bid for 30-year leases over parts of district hospital buildings and land to set up 50-bed or 100-bed hospitals in towns that serve as district headquarters.

The plan relates to a greater private role in treating three non-communicable diseases — cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, and cancer care.

In its letter asking states for their views on the matter, Niti Aayog said the model contract document had been prepared jointly with the Union health ministry and with the World Bank as a technical advisor.

But, a source in the health ministry said, “We were involved in early discussions before the final draft was prepared. The final draft that was shared by Niti Aayog was not vetted up front by the ministry. We shall also be sending our comments on the draft.”

Scroll.in reached out to Niti Aayog for comments on this conflicting version of the process. Senior officials did not respond to phone calls and specific messages. The story shall be updated if and when we receive a response.

The health ministry official accepted that the ministry had, in principle, agreed to involving the private sector to tackle non-communicable diseases but claimed it was not involved in detailing the terms and conditions as laid down in the model contract agreement circulated to the states.” Scroll.in could not independently ascertain this.

The official added that the health ministry is not averse to involving the private sector in public healthcare. “We had only agreed to it (the idea of involving private sector) at a more generic level,” he said. “In principle one may not have an issue. But, the terms and conditions of this nature will have to be neatly designed.”

It is also evident from the finally approved National Health Policy 2017 of the BJP-led union government that different arms of the government are on the same page, in principle, on a greater impetus to the private sector health industry.

The policy reads, “The health policy recognises that there are many critical gaps in public health services which would be filled by ‘strategic purchasing’. Such strategic purchasing would play a stewardship role in directing private investment towards those areas and those services for which currently there are no providers or few providers.” The policy advocates building synergy with “not for profit” organisations and the private sector, subject to availability of timely quality services as per predefined norms in the collaborating organisation for critical gap filling.

The policy was finalised after an initial round of disagreement between Niti Aayog and the health ministry on how far the government should cede space to the private sector in the critical public health arena.

The model contract agreement now shared by Niti Aayog in June with states is built on a generic contract for “brownfield hospitals” available on the generic government website, which is run by the department of economic affairs under the finance ministry. The contract is called “Greenbook for Brownfield Hospital - 25 02 2014”. The World Bank, on its microsite for public-private projects, also provides a link to this document.

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Scroll.in, 21 July, 2017, https://scroll.in/pulse/844513/health-ministry-claims-it-had-no-say-in-fine-print-of-niti-aayog-plan-to-privatise-some-hospitals


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