After high-end diagnostics and dialysis machines, the state government is on its way to privatise healthcare for newborns to improve the Capital’s abysmal infant mortality rate.

Under the proposed Public-Private partnership (PPP) for neonatal care, the state government will tie up with private players.

“We have hired a consultant for this project and we will empanel private hospitals and pay them per patient for their services,” said JP Singh Principal Secretary, Delhi government. As of now, the government has a scheme for institutional deliveries but after the babies are born, there is no scheme focussing on their health during the first year of life.

“This will be complementary to Mamta scheme,” said Singh, “our main focus is to improve the care given to an infant in the first year of life.”

Under the Mamta scheme, the Delhi government pays Rs 4,000 to private hospitals per patient for providing comprehensive healthcare to pregnant women — including antenatal care, institutional delivery, newborn care and post-natal care.

As in the Mamta scheme, once the details of the neonatal care scheme is finalised, nursing homes and private hospitals will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government.

According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) Bulletin by the Centre, 35 children die in every 1,000 births in Delhi.

While the Capital is doing much better than other states, a lot needs to be done before the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 30 per 1,000 births is achieved. The national average is an abysmal 53 per 1,000 births.

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