Public Private Partnership in Healthcare Industry in Sri Lanka as an Alternative to Privatization

Abstract

The study is focused on the public-private partnership in health sector in Sri Lanka. As a developing country, Sri Lanka faces a challenging task in order to improve the infrastructure facilities of the country after ending the thirty years of war. There is a requirement to develop the country as a whole along with all the industries such as education, health, transport, agriculture, etc. to meet the existing demands of the general public. Sri Lankan government alone cannot fulfill the ever rising demand for product and services to its populace. Healthcare being one of the primary responsibility of the government, Sri Lanka have been able to maintain the health indicators in-par with many of the developed countries. But with the life style changes of the populace, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) and the ageing population has increased during the past decade. It is also noticeable that the private health expenditure has drastically increased during last few years while the government health expenditure has reduced during same period. Private sector investments on health are mainly on capital investments, expanding the bed capacity, expanding the technology etc. The need of the public private partnership arise in this situation to fill the gap in the health sector in the country.