ITAP-Scaling up Public Private Partnerships in India
The IFPS II Technical Assistance Project (ITAP) has been instrumental in initiating Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for improving access to quality reproductive health services in Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP). ITAP has designed and is presently piloting the voucher system, social franchising and mobile health vans. Besides this, ITAP has been involved in strengthening the existing community based health activities launched under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) by involving NGOs and reaching the difficult terrains of hilly Uttarakhand. Contracting out is another model being designed for Uttarakhand. All models have been designed with extensive stakeholder consultations so as to respond to local needs.
The success of the voucher scheme in two rural blocks of Haridwar has encouraged the Government of Uttarakhand to scale up the scheme to four districts. The scheme would leverage the funds available through the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY – a Government of India initiated maternal health benefit scheme) and the state government budget.
The state of Uttarakhand has also decided to implement contracting out as a means to increase the efficiency of health infrastructure. ITAP has been closely involved in advocacy initiatives to promote contracting out as a PPP model, designed a state appropriate model and has developed detailed guidelines for procedures and processes involved in implementing it. ITAP made a presentation to the Health and Family Welfare Minister, Health Secretary and senior officials of the health department on experiences of contracting out in different states of India. Health Minister has taken a decision to constitute a committee to identify at least two underserved blocks in each district for contracting out health facilities. ITAP will be working closely with the Committee to identify these districts.
In UP, the State Government has recognized the need for PPPs and, through a competitive bidding process, selected government empanelled agencies for developing strategies/ models for private sector management of diagnostic services, mobile medical units, ambulatory transport and urban health centers. The process of developing models for contracting out secondary and primary healthcare centers has also been initiated through newspaper advertisements in UP. ITAP provided technical assistance to the government in development of terms of reference, request for proposals and evaluated the proposals submitted by agencies and recommended the winners of technical bids.
