Procurement route-Public Private Partnerships (PPP)- Private Finance Initiative(PFI) - Assignment Example

Starting in 1993, the WHO campaigned to private enterprises and other non-government organisations the advocacy to create meaningful partnerships that seek to create projects and programs dedicated to health and development of people. In fact, creating PPP is part of the core strategy of the organisation called the “Initiative on Public-Private Partnerships for Health,” which succeeded in forming 70 health partnerships around the world (Buse & Waxman, 2001, p.748). The emphasis placed on partnerships for the sake of health is mirrored in the implication that it draws.

A healthy society means a healthy workforce and a robust economy. This report aims to explain the fundamental principles of PPP in the context of the proposed expansion of referral hospital along with the enhancement of hospital facilities and services in the midst of global economic downturn. It will evaluate its advantages and disadvantages as well as the Public Finance Initiative and Public Partnerships as a procurement route. Relevant examples, statistics, and figures will also be presented in this report. 2. Principles of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Merits and Demerits 2.

1 PPP is a form of agreement; thus, it is bounded by equal, reciprocal, and shared rights and obligations. Buse and Walt (2000) expressed the blurring line between what it means to be a private entity and a government entity. Citing its many positive outcomes, PPP entails the formation of an agreement specifying the roles, responsibilities, and rights of each party involved. There is a mutual understanding, as well as expectations between the two parties prior to the agreement that was created.

In the same manner, both recognise that they have a common goal, and that is, to improve the quality of health afforded to the people in the context of health care. Buse and Walt (2000) added that there are four crucial principles agreed between the two parties, which must be observed in a partnership. These are beneficence, meaning public health must be achieved; nonmaleficence or the effort not to develop poor health instead; autonomy or the conscious effort not to step into the boundaries of the other party; and equity which seeks to equally distribute the benefits to people in a dire situation. 2.2 There are no fixed roles assigned to a partner over time.

This principle is somewhat confusing considering the specific agreed terms between the two parties mentioned earlier. Buse and Walt (2000, p.551) claimed, nonetheless, that the idea of partnership is “non-specific,” meaning the definition of partnership depends from one partnership to the other. For instance, not-for-profit organisations have bigger community sectors as their dominant partners, but at present, this has shifted into a partnership between NGOs and corporate organisations in which the emphasis is more on the relationship between a recipient and a donor.

Hence, the role/s assigned to a partner to the agreement may change overtime and may be measured unequally, especially in cases when the other partner is able to contribute more knowledge or financial resources compared to the other party. Figure 1: PPP Transformation from 1970s to Present Source: Buse and Walt (2000) Figure 1 above shows the shift in the definition of partnerships. The creation of PPP was built between donors and the recipient government. It was not identified whether the donors included governments, NGOs, or private sectors, which exists for