The system is overstretched in all ways ranging from overcrowded hospitals, lack of sufficient resources and long waiting list for patients especially in metropolis like Lahore. Lahore city being the capital of Punjab, Pakistan with a population of over thirteen million residents and most of them currently grappling with a major problem highlighted. This city’s health care needs have risen significantly, the survey that reveals that the city lacks enough hospital beds in public hospitals. Currently, the bed ratio in Lahore is 0.25 beds per thousand general populations against the international benchmark of 3-5 beds per thousand. Since then, overcrowding of patients, especially in the public hospital, has been the order of the day, and it has been realized that most of the patients have to share beds due to lack of space and hence delay in receiving adequate care. This problem is more so felt where populations who cannot afford to seek private healthcare services are concerned.
To address this problem, the solution under consideration is the creation of a novel approach to a public-private partnership to enhance healthcare availability in Lahore. Its main objective is to connect the Punjab government with private health facilities, so that these health care facilities can use 20-30 percent of their bed strength to treat several patients free of charge. This model aims to lessen the load on public hospitals, thereby preventing overcrowding; enhance the quality of public healthcare, while operating at a relatively low cost compared with outright development of new public hospitals by leveraging the developed infrastructure of private institutions.
The main thrust of this PPP venture is to coordinate the Punjab Health Initiatives Management Company (PHIMC) with many private hospitals. These private institutions will provide a specified number of beds for the provision of free treatment services for those who cannot afford private facilities. To make this a sustainable model of operations the government will compensate the private hospitals through the free tariffs they set for services they offer, hence, making the partnership economically feasible. Concerning reimbursement from government to private hospitals, a clear and coherent financial framework will be established. The expenditure by the Punjab government will be borne by the government for free care services which will mean reimbursement to the private hospitals willing to participate in the PPP. This will help them to maintain the existing service delivery especially in the areas of health without having to close shop due to lack of funds, thus assists the government fully in achieving its goal in enhancing health care.
Based on a case study of Lahore, the pilot program will only cover a specific number of beds in some private hospitals. We will have to continuously measure the project over one year and revisit the hypothesis under which the project is launched and study the effect of the project on health care access, patient outcome, and efficiency of the public private partnership throughout the project period. This shall enable an assessment of areas of concern that include; the offloading of the patient burden by the public hospitals, financial viability of the PPP and general quality of the health care delivery system. If successful, the proposed model could be replicated or expanded to other parts of Lahore, other regions in Punjab and potentially across the country.
The estimated cost of this project is projected to be two million Pakistan Rupees and out of which one and half million Rupees would be spent on data collection, analysis, and report writing. Another Rs. 0.6 million will be utilized for things like laptop, internet device and mobile charges, and all related expenses. Moreover, PKR 0.5 million will be spent on a statistics expert for the purpose of evaluating the impact of the program.
The expected outcomes for this approach are rather impressive. The presented measure will lift the percentage of free healthcare services in Lahore; help to decrease population density at public hospitals and improve the effectiveness of healthcare. In the case of success, this PPP model may be replicated to address other healthcare questions in Lahore, Pakistan and, in extension, other developing countries that may have similar problems.
Thus, this new business model of PPP presents a viable solution to Lahore’s stretched health care system. It has the Pioneer Project’s ability to bridge public and private forces with the prospect of changing the delivery of health care, outcomes for patients, cost of treatment, and share of the space as a cost-effective solution for the Pakistan`s progress.
I am Ahmad Bilal Ali, a PhD scholar in Business Administration at Superior University. I have my special interest in conducting research in corporate finance, financial reporting, investment analysis and business strategy. Having teaching experience of nearly seven years as Lecturer in an HEC recognized University, I am passionate in the areas of research seeking to build knowledge in the crossover between theory and practice in financial sciences.
Please note that all opinions, views, statements, and facts conveyed in the article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Business School (CARBS). CARBS assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the content. When interpreting and applying the information provided in the article, readers are advised to use their own discretion and judgement.
If you are interested to write for CARBS Business Review Contact us!
