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. 2020 Nov 30;9(11):5516-5522.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1131_20. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Financing primary healthcare for rural areas

Manisha Dutta  1 , Pavitra Mohan  2 , Sanjana Brahmawar Mohan  2 , Vedha Ponnappan  3 , Prakash Satyavageeswaran  3
Affiliations

Financing primary healthcare for rural areas

Manisha Dutta et al. J Family Med Prim Care. .

Abstract

Context: Primary healthcare in India is provided by both public and private providers. However, access to good quality primary healthcare is lacking in underserved populations such as communities in rural and remote areas and families in low income quartiles. While there are government programs on comprehensive primary healthcare, stagnant investments restrict their reach and quality. At the same time, there are several for-profit and not-for-profit primary healthcare providers that fill the gap, but are limited in scale and geographical reach. They also often find it challenging to provide affordable comprehensive primary healthcare.

Aims: The Consultation on Financing Primary Healthcare was organized to draw lessons for financial sustenance of comprehensive and equitable primary healthcare initiatives. Eighteen academicians and practitioners, representing different institutions from across India, presented and engaged in discussions around the theme of financing primary healthcare.

Methods and material: The Consultation proceedings were recorded, transcribed, analyzed, and synthesized to bring out the key insights.

Results: The Consultation drew insights from the experiences and evidence shared by the participants on the ways to finance primary healthcare services sustainably, especially for underserved populations. The financing models discussed include public-private partnership, user fees, community financing, subscription and cross-subsidy. Cost-reduction strategies such as task-shifting and use of appropriate technology were also identified as key to improving efficiency in service delivery.

Keywords: Affordable; financing; non-governmental; primary healthcare.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Specifics of Nalam primary care mutual product (Source: Based on participant's presentation)
Figure 2
Figure 2
A pyramidal service delivery model of LVPEI (Source: https://www.lvpei.org/about-us)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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