The British government said Tuesday that it wantsthe country's state-funded hospitals to help support themselves by setting upprofit-making branches in other countries.
Officials said the country should capitalize on international respect for theBritish health care brand. But critics accused the government of trying tocommercialize the public health service — a touchy issue in British politics.
The Conservative-led government is searching for ways to reform the NationalHealth Service, which provides free treatment to all but costs more than 100billion pounds ($158 billion) a year to run.
The government announced Tuesday it was setting up a body called HealthcareU.K. to help world-renowned institutions, such as the Great Ormond StreetHospital for children, establish overseas branches.
The model has been pioneered by U.S. institutions like Baltimore's JohnsHopkins, which manages hospitals in countries including Panama and the UnitedArab Emirates.
Health Minister Anne Milton said the plan would create jobs and revenue, whichwould be channeled back into the health service.
"This is good news for NHS patients, who will get better services at theirlocal hospital as a result of the work the NHS is doing abroad and the extrainvestment that will generate," she said.
But Jamie Reed, health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, accused PrimeMinister David Cameron of overseeing "rampant commercialization of the NHS."
"He needs to get a grip and start focusing on patients, not profits,"Reed said.
Many in Britain are wary of attempts to reform the NHS, which — althoughunwieldy and overstretched — is widely regarded as a major nationalaccomplishment. Director Danny Boyle won praise for including a musical tributeto the service in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
The government has introduced reforms it says will eliminate bureaucracy andgive doctors more control. But opponents accuse it of giving private companiesa bigger share of heath care and undermining the system's universality.
The government insists it has no plan to privatize health care, and points outthat parties of all stripes have grappled with rising costs.
The Labour government, in power between 1997 and 2010, oversaw earlier foraysinto the overseas health care market. In 2007, London's Moorfields Eye Hospitalset up a branch in Dubai, and in 2010 the Labour government established NHSGlobal to promote British health care "to international government andorganizations."
The latest reforms come as Britain seeks to trim government spending by 80billion pounds ($127 billion) by 2015 in a bid to cut the country's deficit.