NITI Aayog bats for PPP to improve health services

Government think tank NITI Aayog has pitched for public private partnership (PPP) model to improve health services in the country against the back drop of dismal performance of public hospitals at district level.
The Aayog, in a detailed presentation made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently, has also made a case for creating a body to promote innovative PPP models.
The Aayog has asked the government to develop and do pilot projects in PPP based on the Model Concession Agreements prepared by experts for gauging the impact of new system on health services across the country.
It has also stressed on the need for use of technology and asked the Prime Minister for tracking hospital performance online against outcome metrics.

Stresing on significant scaling up of medical education capacity in the country, the body has also batted for reforms of the Indian Medical Council, which is a statutory body with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining high standards of medical education and recognition of medical qualifications in India.
IMC registers doctors to practise in the country, in order to protect and promote the health and safety of the public by ensuring proper standards in the practice of medicine.

The thinktank also asked the government to cover 10 crore families under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and review it periodically to increase its efficacy.

RSBUY is a Health Insurance Scheme for the Below Poverty Line families with the objectives to reduce out of pocket expenditure on health and increase access to health care.
RSBY was launched in early 2008 and was initially designed to target only the Below Poverty Line (BPL) households, but has been expanded to cover other defined categories of unorganised workers, covering building and other construction workers registered with the welfare boards, licensed railway porters, street vendors, beedi workers, domestic workers, sanitation workers, mine workers, rickshaw pullers,rag pickers, auto/taxi driver and other such sections.
Aayog also asked the government to launch a national screening campaign for cancer, hypertension and diabetes. It has also pitched for a drive by Health Ministry for a cross sector initiative to prevent diabetes, heart/lung diseases.

The said that India will miss the 12th Plan (2012-17) and Millennium Development Goal targets on Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
At present the MMR is 167 per one lakh births which would be 100 by 2017 and 88 by 2022. Similarly the IMR is 40 per cent 1000 births which would be 25 by 2017 and 20 by 2022.