PESHAWAR: Contradictions in Public-Private Partnership Act and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Foundation Act have hamstrung Health Foundation (HF) to implement its policies regarding outsourcing of hospitals to private organisations, according to sources.

Under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, 2020, the authority to enforce and monitor the partnership initiatives in the province rests with public-privatepartnership committee headed by chief minister whereas Health Foundation Act, 2016, authorises the Board of Governors (BoG) of Health Foundation (HF)to monitor and implement public-private partnership schemes.

`Both are using their powers as per their respective laws. It creates problems for HF to implement its programme regarding outsourcing health facilities to private partners,` sources said. According to law, HF`s decisions needed approval of public-private partnership committee for implementation of its programmes under Section 29 of PPP Act, they said.

They said that that HF wanted to work in autonomous way but PPP Act, 2020, made it subservient to PPP committee that operated under the chief minister.

Under the PPP Act, 2020, a committee is established to address delay in implementation of programmes and risk management unit, which plays vital role in putting into practice all the PPP schemes. There are also committees under HF Act, 2016, for funds and technical matters to make the programmes autonomous.

`Under both the laws, there are different financial and administrative structures, which are creating hurdles to smooth working of HF regarding accountability and distribution of resources,` officials told this scribe. Nevertheless, Section 8 of HF Act, which was on the ground before enactment of PPP Act, 2020, alsoempowered HF to retain the powers regarding outsourcing of hospitals to non-governmental organisations, they added.

They said that those contradictions made it difficult both legally and administratively as to which law should be implemented. As per PPP Act, 2020, reporting regarding all the schemes comes under the domain of PPP committee while under HF Act, 2016, all the reports are submitted directly to health department and HF`s BoG. The dual reporting has jeopardised the accountability process of partner organisations.

Officials said that those contradictions made it difficult for HF to implement the law effectively because of the ambiguity in the powers and administrative structures under both the laws.

They said that it was imperative to draw clear lines between the powers of both the bodies so as they could work efficiently without encroaching upon the domain of each other.

There is an urgent need to co-relate the healthcare schemes of HF with PPP committee.

The government should make it clear that the PPP law can be applied to the schemes, which are started afresh.

For example, construction of new medical colleges in collaboration with private partners should be handled under PPP while outsourcing of already established and operational hospitals to private organisations should be declared domain of HF.

`HF has already outsourced 19 hospitals, mostly in merged districts,` said officials. According to them, several problems are cropping up now and then because HF doesn`t have full authority to set things in right direction. They added that empowering HF would pave way for smooth-sailing of the currently outsourced hospitals and more to be outsourced in near future.