PPP model to push healthcare services

Focus on the need for a partnership between public entities and private business has grown in the healthcare industry as many countries continue to battle Covid-19 pandemic. Industry experts, from BRICS nations, on Tuesday said that there is a need for better management on supply of medical essentials which can be achieved with PPP model.

On the day two of three of the BRICS Business Summit 2021, medical devices manufacturing giants, healthcare professionals and pharma companies' heads came together to discuss on the ongoing challenge of delivering healthcare services to the masses and cost-efficient models to magnify the supply chain for the same.

Panelits, from all the BRICS nations, focused primarily on the promotion of digital technology and adoption of tele-medicine during the current times.

Dr. Devlina Chakravarty, Managing Director, Artemis Medicare Services Ltd. (India) iterated on the importance of exploring varied Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model which would go beyond Covid care.

"In my opinion, partnership in infrastructure development, how can we build infrastructure in quick turnaround times in cost effective manner. We can look at how we manage and operate together if there is an opportunity. Build capacity in our existing hospitals and make it more efficient, creating various IT infrastructures and digital platforms so that connectivity across the country gets better and very important and learn from each other's best practices on material management," Dr Chakravarty said.

Dr Chakravarty also put forth the example of PPP mode, the collaboration of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech to create Covaxxin, India's first indigenously developed Covid vaccine. The government has accelerated its immunization drive as the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday announced that India has administered 88,13,919 Covid-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the highest ever vaccination achieved in a single day.

Dr. Devlina further said, "The best PPP came at the time of distress where people from the government and the private worked shoulder-to-shoulder to overcome this kind of crisis."

During the surge of Covid-19 cases in March and April, India saw shortage of critical elements such as oxygen, ICU ventilators and drugs such as Remdesivir, FabiFlu.

Janete Vaz, Co-Founder and President, Sabin Group, at the event, said that country like Brazil focused on including civil society with the government to accelerate vaccination drive. She said that the nation collaborated with over 2000 volunteers for medical awareness, thus creating a case-study for less industrialised countries on Covid-19 management. From Russia, Anatoly Mosman, Director General, Velpharm, said that his company amplified the production of critical Covid drugs as they built a manufacturing plant in seven months post the outbreak of the deadly virus.