Connect with us

Daily News

Healthcare Providers Unite to Oppose Allowing Private Docs at Rural Health Centers

Up in arms against the proposed move of the Punjab government to rope in private doctors to overcome the shortage of specialists in the rural areas, various health groups have joined hand to oppose the move. The groups have demanded that the government should strengthen the human resources and infrastructure rather than going for privatization. The health department had recently invited expression of interest from NGOs and private doctors for providing services in the government hospitals and health institutions situated in rural areas. Jan Swasthya Abhiyan’s Dr Pyare Lal Garg said that the state government had made attempts in 2011 and 2015 to hand over health centers to private player. National co-convener of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Amulya Nidhi said the move was ill-conceived without considering evidence and experience of public-private partnership (PPP) mode in healthcare and education.

“Such experiments have demonstrated that privatization of public services does not lead to either improvement in coverage and quality, or reduction in cost of services,” said Nidhi. He said that handing over of government hospitals to private players had failed in Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan which led to denial of services and overcharging from patients. “In Punjab, the failure of the PPP model for ambulance services is one such example. Discrepancies were recently found in equipment and performance of duties by staff,” said Nidhi. They demanded that the state government should ask the Government of India to reduce costs of drugs and equipment. Academician Prof Manjit Singh said that they would launch a state-wide protest if the government went ahead with its plan. – TOI

Copyright © 2024 Medical Buyer

error: Content is protected !!