New Delhi : Reflecting the government's plan to rope in private players in the health sector, a new dialysis centre was inaugurated here on Aug 25, as a joint venture between the health ministry and one of India's largest hospital chains.

The dialysis centre, part of the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Wellness centre, was launched by the Health Secretary K. Sujatha Rao and Chairman of the Apollo group, Pratap Chandra Reddy.

It is a public private partnership (PPP) between the health ministry and Alliance Medicorp (India) Limited, a joint venture company of Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd.

'There is a need to step up services from the public health sector. Our agenda is to increase the reach of the services. The ministry will definitely keep a close watch on this pilot project so that more such centres can be rolled out on the PPP model,' Rao said.

Echoing her thoughts, Reddy said the private sector had to be brought into the health sector to meet the enormous need for quality and low-cost healthcare.

'PPP is one way of coming up with innovative methods in the health sector where demand for quality is enormous. We are ready to initiate reforms in terms of providing low-cost health services to the people of India,' he said.

This centre, which has a budget of Rs.2 crore, is expected to be functional by September this year. Equipped with a trained team of medical staff and senior nephrologists from Apollo hospital, the facility has eight dialysis machines and a capacity to treat more than 6,500 cases a year.