New Delhi, May 12 (Inditop.com) Senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh government held a pre-bid, closed door meet with representatives of Max, Fortis, Rockland and Apollo here Wednesday for a unique public-private initiative to provide cutting-edge healthcare at four district hospitals.
The project entails the upgrade and upkeep of four district hospitals, eight secondary health centres, 23 primary health centres and 210 sub-centres across Basti, Allahabad, Ferozabad and Kanpur districts, setting a benchmark for such future initiatives in the state, officials said.
“The idea is to bring quality healthcare to the people of Uttar Pradesh state using the expertise of private players. Once the project is awarded, these private players will manage, maintain and operate these facilities for 33 years,” a senior official told IANS.
The tenders have to be submitted by May 31.
Explaining the various facets of the project, the official said each of these hospitals will serve a population of around 2.3 million. They will not only provide out-patient, in-patient and emergency services, but also provide diagnostics and pharmacy facilities.
As many as 278 specified clinical and surgical procedures have to be offered free of cost.
This apart, at least 50 percent of the beds have to be retained for families below poverty line at all times. The private player, however, has the option to increase the capacity, in which case 25 percent of such extended capacity must be kept for such families.
Such poor families have to be extended healthcare free of cost for an indefinite period of time. In cases where such families have state-sponsored health insurance, the money collected has to kept in a separate account and given back to the government.
The state of Uttar Pradesh intends to hold 11-percent equity in each of the four projects, which is estimated at around Rs.200-Rs.250 crore in lieu of the physical infrastructure at these centres. The state will also provide viability gap funding to meet the shortfall in running the projects.
The state government is also examining how the resources available under various schemes, such as Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, the Rajiv Gandhi Swasthya Bima Yojana and the National Rural Health Mission could be deployed for the projects.
Officials said even though the state’s medical health service department had its own strengths, the government was conscious of the fact that private healthcare providers have expertise and management efficiency in extending quality care.
“We have realised that our roles can be made complementary so that it can bring about much great synergies in healthcare delivery in the state. The success of the four projects will help us in replicating the model in other districts eventually,” the official added.
