NEW DELHI: In a major relief to the common man, the Centre has decided to outsource diagnostic test facilities in all government hospitals, which is expected to save time and energy of patients and reduce the burden on health centres.
The decision came after it was found that government-run hospitals are overburdened and there is a dearth of people to operate diagnostic equipment. This causes difficulties to patients in getting even basic diagnostic services such as blood tests and X-rays done.
“We are looking at a model where the entire diagnostic services would be outsourced so that there is no red tapism in procurement and maintenance of diagnostic equipment,” an official from the Ministry of Health told The Sunday Standard. While the services will be provided free of cost to all patients, private operators will be paid for the tests. “The objective is to improve the services with the help of private operators. It will not only reduce problems of the poor and the lower middle class, but will also check the cost of these tests,” the official said.
At Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, patients have to spend a day to get simple diagnostic tests done. For more complex tests such as a CT scan, there is always a long waiting list.
According to A K Rai, Medical Superintendent of the hospital, most government-run hospitals face the problem of long waiting list for tests. “Patients undergo tests from outside to avoid the long waiting list. Outsourcing tests is a very viable option to address this problem,” he said.
States will have rights to have their own models for the outsourcing process. While a few states have similar models, others will open tenders to invite private operators next month.
In Andhra Pradesh, the state health department has tied up with private agencies in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to outsource the diagnostic services. Before this, over 55,000 medical tools and equipment were lying unused in government-run hospitals for want of repairs and funds in the state.