Karnataka government is in the process of drawing up the Karnataka Nursing Homes Regulation Bill. The government had held discussions with representatives of the Indian Medical Association, Karnataka branch and revised the Bill according to their recommendations.

The Bill is presently under scrutiny by the Department of Parliamentary Affairs. It would regulate the standards of quality, infrastructure, staff and so on in medical institutions all over the State.

The proposed Karnataka Health Policy will promote the public-private partnership service in the health care sector in a planned manner.

This was announced by Dr A K M Nayak, secretary health and family welfare, government of Karnataka at the inauguration of an international seminar on “Role of Private Sector in Healthcare in India” organised by the Indian Society of Health Administrators (ISHA) in collaboration with the International Health Summit and the International Hospital Federation, United Kingdom. The three-day seminar will deliberate on private and public partnerships and the role of the private sector in healthcare.

As a part of the public-private partnership in healthcare, the government has taken up many initiatives including offering management of primary health centres (PHCs) to non-governmental organisations and medical colleges jointly. The director, medical education Dr R Seethalakshmi and the chief executive officers of zilla parishads concerned verified applications for this, said Dr Nayak.

The government would provide continuous support for the project and monitor the functioning of PHCs at the district level. Adequate responses had not been received as to the success of the programme and it was difficult to gauge whether the results of this venture were favourable as of now, said Dr Nayak.

The government had also recognised some private hospitals in the State for treatment of government employees, he said.

Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, managing director, Narayana Hrudayalaya said his institution was planning to launch a joint venture telemedicine project in collaboration with the government and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The plan was to set-up 27 coronary care, diabetic care, ophthalmology and chest medicine units at a cost of Rs. 150 crore to take health care to the masses.

A health insurance scheme, 'Yashashwini' would also be launched shortly by the Karnataka government in association with Narayana Hrudayalaya and two insurance companies to provide health insurance coverage 50 lakh people in the State, mostly farmers. The scheme would cover all kinds of ailments and would be initiated in around 40 hospitals here, he said.

Healthcare in India had lot of potential to improve because the country produced the largest number of doctors, nurses and medical technicians, informed Dr. Shetty.