Public-private partnerships are increasingly advocated to alleviate deficiencies in the public health system as well as to reduce economic stress on those who seek services from an expensive, burgeoning and unregulated private health sector. Focusing on India, this book examines how the private sector in developing countries is tapped to deliver health care services to poor and under-served sections of society through collaborative arrangements with the government. Having emerged as a key reform initiative, aspects of public-private partnership are examined such as the genesis of private sector partnerships, the ways in which the private sector is encouraged to deliver public health services, and the models and formats that make such partnerships possible. Based on in-depth case studies from different states of India and drawing on experiences in other countries, the authors analyse challenges, opportunities and benefits of implementing public-private partnerships and explore whether partnership with the private sector can be designed to deliver health care services to the poor as well as the consequences for beneficiaries. This book will be of interest to scholars of public policy and development administration, health policy and development economics as well as South Asian Studies.

Public-private partnerships are increasingly advocated to alleviate deficiencies in the public health system as well as to reduce economic stress on those who seek services from an expensive, burgeoning and unregulated private health sector. Focusing on India, this book examines how the private sector in developing countries is tapped to deliver health care services to poor and under-served sections of society through collaborative arrangements with the government. Having emerged as a key reform initiative, aspects of public-private partnership are examined such as the genesis of private sector partnerships, the ways in which the private sector is encouraged to deliver public health services, and the models and formats that make such partnerships possible.

Based on in-depth case studies from different states of India and drawing on experiences in other countries, the authors analyse challenges, opportunities and benefits of implementing public-private partnerships and explore whether partnership with the private sector can be designed to deliver health care services to the poor as well as the consequences for beneficiaries.

This book will be of interest to scholars of public policy and development administration, health policy and development economics as well as South Asian Studies.

The twentieth century was characterised by major advances in science and technology, and the pursuit of ambitious developmental goals strengthened the technocratic orientation of public administration. This study addresses technocratic factors in policy formulation and implementation by examining Indian and Dutch policies in primary education and primary health for establishing and sustaining human capital. While comparisons between India and the Netherlands may appear to be a mismatch due to substantial differences in levels of socio-economic development, similarities are nevertheless manifest. Both being deeply democratic and parliamentary, their systems of government are not far apart despite one being a decentralised unitary state and the other a quasi-federal state. Likewise, technocratisation in decision-making in both countries has been stimulated by changes in the past decade: the Netherlands is adjusting to membership in the European Union while India has adopted liberalised economic policies. This book provides opportunities for learning from experience as well as providing generalisations about patterns of change. Published in association with Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development.