Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) campaigns against outsourcing of diagnostic centres #Chhattisgarh

TNN | Feb 1, 2013, 03.04 AM IST

RAIPUR: Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, today started a campaign against the proposed move of the government to outsource diagnostic centres at 379 public health facilities in the state. A public meeting was also held to show discontent with the decision.Talking to TOI, Sulakshna, member of JSA, said that instead of improving and expanding services in the existing system, the government is replacing it with private service providers. “What is disheartening is that the Raman Singh government has taken no lessons from other states where privatisation in this sector flopped,” she added.

Some senior officials in the state also agree that the government seems to be in a haste to privatise the service. They admit that flaws do exist in the system, the biggest being that privatisation would not solve the problem of understaffing. “How will the private sector get qualified staff in Bastar when the government cannot get it on their own,” one of them said.Experts say that unless and until checks and balances are put in place and they are implemented in letter and spirit, the move is bound to backfire. Moreover quality and not the quantity of the tests conducted should be the criteria and the same has to be monitored on day to day basis, a difficult proposition in the present scenario.A senior official commented that merely putting tough conditions on the contract paper will not resolve the problem. “What is required is monitoring, which is a difficult task”, he said.