Importance of Private Sector Engagement

NTEP has endorsed approach of ‘Universal access to TB care’ aims to provide all TB patients in the community an early access to good quality TB diagnosis and treatment services. 

There is a considerable contribution of the TB patient notification from private sector over the years and therefore, partnership and collaboration with private sector and other stakeholders is required. This will facilitate adoption of specific tools, guidelines, and activities aimed at providing quality TB services for every single patient in the country.

The process of private sector engagement is important as to ensure that private-sector patients have access to the same quality of diagnostics, drugs
and community-based services as public-sector patients. 

Private Sector Engagement is a deliberate, systematic collaboration of the government and private sector to move national health priorities forward beyond individual interventions and programs. There are various partnership options that state can adopt and engage the private sector. 

Key features of a partnership option

1. Quality of Care as per Standards of TB Care in India (STCI): All Service Providers should provide services aligned as per the latest guidelines on diagnosis and treatment and STCI.
2. Needs-based: To be effective, partnerships have to be based on identified needs and customized to suit the local context. It is ideal that each state or district design partnership options based on the local needs, capacity of the public health system and availability of competent Service Providers.
3. Patient-centric: Patient should be at the center of every partnership option. All patients are eligible to receive free services at public sector facilities and with minimum out-of-pocket expenditure at private-sector facilities.
4. Competitive and performance-based approach: Programme Managers must seek Service Providers who will be able to deliver high-quality services and at prices that are commensurate with market rates. It is critical to move away from the mind-set of selecting the lower cost bidder.