Forge and push public-private partnership in healthcare: Dr. Naresh Trehan

India’s top cardiac surgeon Dr Naresh Trehan says that the country needs to look beyond grandiose populist schemes and instead devise realistic plans to increase the outreach of public health system. For starters, the government should increase the GDP share of healthcare system. And it should aggressively push forge public-private partnership model to reach the last mile. 

“Healthcare can be reached to the last man standing only if public, private and NGO sector work together,” suggested Dr. Trehan on Zee Media’s Bharat Bhagya Vidhata.

In an exclusive conversation with Zee Media’s Amish Devgan in ‘Mudda Aapka’, Dr. Trehan advocated a three-pronged approach to resuce India’s ailing healthcare system. Alignment of all healthcare providers in private, public and NGO sector, prioritize health insurance for all and Indianization of medical technology.

Emphasis should be on building lasting blocks of healthcare infrastructure that reach out to the bottom of the pyramid instead of short-term populism.

 “Only by announcing big schemes in health sector, things will not improve. It is our dharma to provide health care to the last man standing at district and village level in next five to seven years,” said Dr. Trehan. 

Dr. Trehan pitched for separating business from healthcare in the interest of the ‘aam aadmi’. 

He also admits that there are many unethical people in this industry and we need checks and balances. “Healthcare is a business with soul, but if we treat people as a commodity it is the violation of our Hippocratic Oath”, says Dr. Trehan.

He suggested adopting evidence-based medicine systems to bring down medical costs and unnecessary health checkups. While Trehan supports punitive action against doctors inflating treatment costs or for overcharging, basic awareness about diseases and treatment processes remains the ultimate check to prevent doctors from looting the patients.

Dr. Trehan believes that we can only claim to give proper healthcare to our people only when we work out three things – how to control people who have chosen a wrong route, fill the gaps in the system and how to provide healthcare to everyone.

He says India’s public health spending as a percentage of GDP is minuscule which ought to be increased. He avers, “On health front, the American government spends more than the annual health budget of India even when they have only 350 million people and we have 1.2 billion.”

Dr. Trehan believes that we need to prioritize health insurance in our life. “In India, we generally take fire insurance, car insurance but don’t go for health insurance.”

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