India’s child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world. Increased use of maternal child health and family planning information and services improves the health of this vulnerable population. In Uttar Pradesh, where maternal mortality is the highest in the country and infant mortality the third highest, effective family planning and reproductive health services are limited. 92.5 percent of the population pay out of pocket for health services.
The project is creating a sustainable public private partnership in healthcare for the low-income working class and poor by developing a network of franchised hospitals offering quality reproductive and child health services at pre fixed prices. The network of franchised hospitals and health clinics developed under the name of “Merrygold Network” has three tiers. Each tier of the network provides a different level of quality health care, ranging from basic and emergency obstetric care, family planning, outpatient services and pediatric care, as well as immunizations. Under the program, healthcare services will be available at the franchised hospitals and clinics at 30 to 40 percent less than market cost.
The project uses principles of commercial franchising for development of the network across all 70 districts of Uttar Pradesh. All franchisees will follow the same quality standards to ensure consistency of care. The hospitals that are part of the franchising network will offer the same set of services, have a similar look, and follow the same branding to be easily identifiable. At the end of three years, there will be a franchised hospital in each of the districts of Uttar Pradesh. These hospitals will be further networked with partially-franchised facilities that provide an established set of services as per the quality protocols at a set price. The network will include more than 770 franchisee hospitals and about 10,500 health clinics throughout the state. |
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