Abstract:
In the recent years Public Private Partnership has been a key policy option designed for achieving resourceful and successful high quality of health care services. The study aimed to study the role of PPP in improved healthcare services for older people in Morogoro Municipal Council. Using Case study, a number of 84 respondents were purposely involved in the study. The data were obtained through questionnaires, interviews, and documentary reviews. Data collected were descriptively analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).The study revealed that the majority of the respondents (61.3%) were aware of the existing collaboration between government and private sectors in providing healthcare services. 57.5% of the respondents knew that PPP is involved in delivering health care services. 63.8% of them identified that PPP has reduced the distance that they used when they were seeking healthcare services. 93.8% of the respondents identified that PPP has not removed the cost of healthcare services. On the other hand, 55.7% identified that PPP has managed to increase the types of healthcare services which are delivered to older people, 31.3% mentioned increase in laboratory services, while 11.3% mentioned increase in imaging services such as X-rays.73.4% identified that through PPP waiting time for healthcare services has been reduced, also majority of the respondents (68.4%) reported that reliability of health care services has increased. 79.7% of them reported PPP has increased the availability of essential medicines and equipments. The study also found out that 69.4% of the respondents agreed that PPP has increased efficiency in health services delivery for older people. The study concludes by recommending to the central government to avoid bureaucracy and grant full decentralization of PPPs to all local government with authority to reach agreements with partners in provision of healthcare services especially for older people because with centralized PPP programs it is difficult for local government to exercise PPP.
