Finmin to seek pvt allies in health, education

The finance ministry will soon identify areas in the health and education sectors where public-private partnership (PPP) can be sought.

In a meeting at the North Block chaired by finance secretary D Subbarao, it was agreed that specific areas should be identified for PPP projects.

Officials from both the health and the education department were present at the meeting. It was also attended by representatives of four state governments: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

"The meeting is the beginning of a larger consultation process to explore the possibility of implementing PPP projects in the social sector," a government official said.

State governments showed enthusiasm in partial adoption of PPP in this sector and shared their experience.Officials from Andhra Pradesh shared their experience of how the state has been able to provide computer education with the help of private players.

"State governments said financial resources are not a problem for them. They issue they face right now is capacity constraint. In the health sector, they urged for private partnership in areas like ambulance services, medical diagnostics and training of nurses," an official said

However, the central government departments were sceptical on the impact of the PPP on long-term government commitments. They are open to experimental adoption of PPP in some specific areas.