Can the Gates Foundation help make a business case for primary healthcare?

Primary healthcare providers have preferred being in metropolises. Rural India remains ignored. The UP government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation could change that

The Uttar Pradesh government with the Gates Foundation has invited proposals under an international competitive bid to outsource primary healthcare care centres

From over 25,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) set up across the country, only about 5,000 meet the government’s own public health standards

The primary healthcare budget for current fiscal year amounts to around Rs 34,214 crore

NITI Aayog has flexed its muscles to stop the health ministry’s proposed National Health Policy from being adopted

In late September 2016, the government of Uttar Pradesh (UP) held a rather unusual meeting in Lucknow. A motley combination of doctors and entrepreneurs from nonprofits, hospitals and venture capital funded-startups had gathered for what looked like an interesting experiment in outsourcing. A word that rings a bell in tech but not in healthcare. That the world’s largest and richest charity, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was involved, added a sincere and reassuring flavour to a state government invitation. And it was about outsourcing primary healthcare in 11 centres.

People were called to thrash out the nitty-gritty of a proposal for international competitive bidding that would be officially floated.

AUTHOR

Ruhi Kandhari

Ruhi writes on the impact of healthcare policies, trends in the healthcare sector and developments on the implementation of Electronic Health Records in India. She has an M. Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

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