ISLAMABAD:The health experts on Thursday stressed the need for strengthening Public-Private Partnerships to improve health facilities in the country.
The experts made the remarks at a seminar, here, titled: ‘Role of Public-Private Partnership in Healthcare in Pakistan’ organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations & Coordination Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro said social security initiatives must be executed and continued irrespective of changes in political regimes.
She urged the legislators to monitor the quality of public services in their constituencies and address issues at the policy level.
The parliamentary secretary also suggested increasing awareness to fight the stereotypes and misinformation to address the trust deficit in public healthcare.
Senator Prof. Dr Mehr Taj Roghani said the universal health coverage should be ensured and devised as financially sustainable by considering the income of the citizen.
“Public-private partnership, third-party monitoring, and evaluation should be introduced to prevent corruption, exploitation, and mismanagement,” she suggested.
Chief Executive of Islamabad Health Regulatory Authority Dr Quaid Saeed said that “service quality in public healthcare was below average”, which deterred the patients from preferring the public healthcare.
He highlighted that the poor quality of care also increases patients’ burden on tertiary hospitals as patients avoid going to primary and secondary healthcare facilities.
He stressed the need for addressing patients’ trust deficit by improving services in primary and secondary public healthcare, enforcing strict regulations and curtailing quackery. He added the government alone could not address all issues by itself and must explore public-private partnerships.
He called upon the government to streamline service delivery by implementing policies, and engaging the private sector in delivery and monitoring.