No district hospital in Karnataka runs on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model at present and there is a history of “failed PPP arrangements” in running Primary Health Centres (PHCs), according to health activists and doctors.
The ‘Arogya Bandhu’ scheme, under which the Health Department in 2011-12 partnered with non-governmental organisations, charitable trusts and private medical colleges to run 52 of its PHCs, was scrapped in 2016. This was following a series of complaints of non-compliance with rules, misuse of funds, lack of accountability, and failure to provide quality service to patients.
This apart, a study conducted by the Institute of Health Management and Research (IHMR) had noted that there is little difference between the services provided by the NGOs and the government in running PHCs. The expenses of running the PHCs, including building maintenance and staff salary, were given by the government anyway.
However, two years ago, the scheme was reintroduced. Currently, the department has handed over 20 PHCs in nine districts — Bengaluru Rural, Belagavi, Davangere, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Tumakuru, Chickballapur, Chamarajanagar and Bidar — to NGOs and charitable trusts. Apart from this, diagnostic and dialysis services have also been outsourced under PPP arrangements. CT scan services in 14 district hospitals and MRI services in five are provided this way.
According to data from the Health Department, while 1,91,186 CT scans were done from October 2017 (when the PPP began) till January 6, 2020, as many as 42,102 MRI scans were done from March 2018. These services are free of cost for patients as they are being provided under the National Free Diagnostic Services. The government pays the private entity for the service, officials said.
