Healthcare infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships in Developing Countries : the Queen 'Mamohato Hospital in Lesotho

Abstract

Over the past decade, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have increasingly found their application in the sector of health infrastructure. The objective of this paper is to determine whether PPPs are a viable option for health infrastructure projects in developing countries. For this purpose, the author discusses and describes PPPs in general and specifies features of PPPs, which may be relevant for the healthcare sector and developing countries. In a next step, the author extensively analyses the Lesotho New Hospital PPIP case study and establishes key learnings from the undertaking. The combined evidence suggests that the PPP model for health infrastructure projects in developing countries is not recommended as a result of its high complexity and wide spectrum of underlying obstacles. Therefore, the author suggests developing countries' governments to engage in smaller and less demanding PPP projects in order to acquire the skills and expertise that are required for large-scale health infrastructure PPP projects. Keywords: Public-Private Partnership, PPP, 3P, integrated, PPIP, healthcare, infrastructure, finance, new hospital, Queen 'Mamohato Hospital, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, developing countries, emerging markets, World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation, IFC, Oxfam, Tsepong, Netcare, Maseru, Lesotho, Bloemfontein, South Africa.