Following the UK's comprehensive spending
review last week, this is a crucial time for the country to
consider how it can do more with less.
For example, the NHS can simply no longer afford itself. Old models,
old mindsets and old systems simply can't continue to operate
efficiently, with significantly less resource. The UK would be wise
to look at the efficient and economic services India has developed
in recent years as a way of bridging the gap between supply and
demand for health.
India, having pioneered frugal and efficient services, must now
look to eradicating health poverty, developing their public
services to provide healthcare, sanitation and waste management in
urban centres, and clean water across the country.
For old models to be ditched, and new ones introduced, both
countries will require curiosity, innovation, social enterprise and
skill development for their leaders. Above all else, they will need
collaboration between sectors. New models of delivery will need to
include all sectors, working together and operating in the same
civic space to make change happen. The solutions don't lie in the
public sector, or the private sector, but somewhere in the middle.
The delivery of public health services can no longer sit entirely
with the public sector.
So we have a new challenge set for the Dishaa initiative - which extends far
beyond healthcare. It asks: how can the public and private sectors
work efficiently and effectively together? What leadership will be
required to make this happen?
- This blog from Adirupa Sengupta, Common
Purpose's International Director, appeared on the Common
Purpose blog at http://commonpurpose.net. Common
Purpose is working in partnership with the British Foreign
& Commonwealth Office to deliver Dishaa: for future leaders in the UK and
India.