ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history and characteristics of public private partnerships (PPPs) in India. The evidence for this is based on a review of published, unpublished, and grey literature. In the 1920s several leading practitioners of public health strongly advocated for the idea of social medicine and a leading role for the state to finance, provide, and administer health services. The Bhore Committee report in 1946 had spelt out in great detail the financing and architecture of the public health services system. PPPs have found a place in the different sub-systems of the health service system that include financing, provisioning, education, research, technology, and human resources. Commenting on the rise of these varied public insurance schemes, Baru observes the following: the importance of medical insurance schemes for the poor gained currency in the aftermath of the health sector reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.
