Tamil Nadu is officially moving toward improving healthcare infrastructure through a move the state government has issued into its own court, in recognition it has granted permission for 8,000 new private hospitals to be established across Tamil Nadu.
That came at a time when demand for doctors and hospitals has skyrocketed, fueled by higher population growth, greater healthcare consumption and the urgent need to make care available to those in urban areas and rural ones alike. The order is likely to assist communities who are deprived of comprehensive care.
With a temporary regulatory framework, the government is opening up hospital establishments to the private sector to facilitate faster access to appropriate treatment and fill areas of healthcare services that need to fill. They will be ruled by very stringent regulations, the general expectation being that this must be safe, staffing, and infrastructure adequate before permanent licenses are granted.
Officials have stressed that the approach is not only numerical, but about access. In Tamil Nadu, many districts suffer from the low density of hospitals, where rural regions are in particular disadvantaged. With a new 8,000 private hospitals there would also be a dramatic reduction of travel time for patients reducing the burden on state hospitals and providing employment opportunities for the health sector.
The programme fits with the state’s larger aim to make Tamil Nadu a hub of healthcare in India. But the decision touched off a debate. Advocates say it is a reasonable response to acute healthcare shortages, while detractors warn against unchecked growth at such a speed. Worries range from the quality of care available, to the cost of care, and the potential for an imbalance in resources favoring urban centers over rural regions in an effort to scale up.
It has made provision for oversight and accountability with monitoring of progress will also be within certain limits. In the face of such grand initiatives like Tamil Nadu’s, allowing 8,000 hospitals to run in the state as a measure of temporary, “space and time,” has been a bold attempt to find a fair balance between public safety requirements and business as usual in managing hospitals.
Implemented properly, it will transform the state of health care as it will provide a model for this entire state if successful to emulate for other regions in the state.
