NL Conversation: Are public-private partnerships the solution to India’s healthcare woes?

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed in tragic detail the inadequacies of India’s healthcare system. While public healthcare, especially outside of major cities, is at best rudimentary, the private health sector, which accounts for the bulk of the nation’s healthcare facilities, has come up short in this time of crisis.Why is it so? What are the deficiencies in the health sector the pandemic has revealed? How have they affected the country’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak? What needs to be done now to minimise the damage from the pandemic? How can the health sector be strengthened in the long run? Do public-private partnerships offer a solution?To discuss such questions, Newslaundry organised a webinar, hosted by Abhinandan Sekhri and featuring as panellists Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman and managing director of Medanta; K Sujata Rao, former union health secretary; Oommen C Kurian, head of health initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.Asked whether Indian hospitals have the excess capacity to deal with the outbreak, Trehan points out how hospitals dedicated to treating coronavirus patients have been set up in every district and how private hospitals such as Medanta, Fortis and Artemis have collectively adopted a hospital in Manesar, Haryana, and turned it into a Covid treatment facility.Citing the example of Gurugram, he says there appear to be enough hospital beds to deal with a medium-sized surge. It’ll depend a great deal on how the lockdown is lifted as well, he adds, “As important as the lockdown was, even more important is in what sequence and what manner it is lifted.” (Disclosure: Dr. Trehan is married to Madhu Trehan, the co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Newslaundry.)Asked about the treatment costs in private hospitals, Trehan explains that those with insurance are being charged under it, and those who cannot afford treatment are being treated for free.To understand how the public-private model works, Abhinandan asked Rao to explain its intricacies and its shortcomings. “When it comes