PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN INDIA

It is widely accepted that the deficiencies in public sector health system can only be overcome by significant reforms. The need for reforms in India s health sector has been emphasized by successive plan documents since the Eighth Five-Year Plan in 1992, by the 2002 national health policy and by international donor agencies. The World Bank
(2001:12,14), which has been catalytic in initiating health sector reforms in many states, categorically emphasized: now is the time to carry out radical experiments in India's health sector, particularly since the status quo is leading to a dead end. But it is evident that there is no single strategy that would be best option The proposed reforms are not
cheap, but the cost of not reforming is even greater”.

Partnership with the private sector has emerged as a new avenue of reforms, in part due to resource constraints in the public sector of governments across the world (Mitchell-Weaver and Manning 1992). There is growing realisation that, given their respective strengths and weaknesses, neither the public sector nor the private sector alone can operate in the best interest of the health system. There is also a growing belief that public and private sectors in health can potentially gain from one another.