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Kingston Public HospitalMelody Cammock, Contributor
Public health facilities should consider public-private partnership (PPP) in response to some of the endemic problems faced by hospitals and primary health care services.
PPPs would allow for a total reform of the health sector as we know it, thereby improving equity, access, efficiencies, quality and sustainability of our health care system, while at the same time maintaining the affordable cost that is a significant feature of the government-funded, public system.
Increasingly, governments around the world have been embracing the growing concept of PPPs, which involve a system in which a government service or private business venture is funded and operated through a partnership between government and one or more private sector companies.
Combined resources
Constraints on public funding, coupled with rising costs, have resulted in many governments opting to combine resources with the private sector to properly manage and maintain their health care systems. Gone are the days of governments fully taking on the responsibility of funding their health care systems.
Each partner makes a contribution in its area of special competence, bringing in expertise that is often not available in development projects. The partners in such a partnership rally around a common cause, while at the same time pursue some of their own organisational objectives.
For example, public sector organisations can achieve their objectives in less time, with smaller investments. Second, private sector organisations are able to expand their markets, develop new marketing techniques and contribute to the communities in which they do business. Thirdly, development organisations achieve their strategic objectives in collaboration with others. Most importantly, the targeted communities and populations benefit from improved health.
PPPs are being increasingly encouraged as part of a comprehensive development framework. The need to foster such arrangements is supported by a clear understanding of the public sector's inability to provide public goods entirely on their own, in an efficient, effective and equitable manner, due primarily to the lack of resources and management capabilities. These considerations have necessitated the development of different arrangements, which see interaction between organisations that have the mandate to offer public good on one hand, and those that can facilitate this goal on the other hand.
Rise inalliances
Globally, there has been a rise in the number of public-private alliances in the health sector. In fact, many international health care programmes may be considered public-private partnerships. Some examples include:
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which is mostly financed (75 per cent) by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The TB Alliance. This is financed by public agencies and private foundations, and partners with research institutes and private pharmaceutical companies to develop faster-acting, novel treatments for tuberculosis that are affordable and accessible to the developing world. DNDi, or the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, was founded in 2003 as a not-for-profit drug development organisation focused on developing novel treatments for patients suffering from neglected diseasesHere in Jamaica, we have seen a gradual increase in the number of private individuals who have entered into the health care system. In recent years we have also seen a boom in the number of private clinics and hospitals that provid health care options. Such entities usually provide more improved and better quality service to customers, but at a higher cost.
Kingston Public Hospital, the island's largest public hospital, has an agreement with the privately operated Biomedical Caledonia Medical Laboratory, to provide laboratory services for both patients and staff at discounted rates. However, we have not seen a large-scale involvement of the private sector in our health care system, similar to what is now taking place globally.
The fact is, public-private partnerships can offer significant benefits as long as policymakers structure the transactions carefully and create sound regulatory arrangements to ensure universal access, quality delivery of health care, and improvements all around.
Contributed by Communications & Business Solutions Ltd. (CBS).They may be contacted at info@cbsmarketingja.com
