Public–Private Partnership (PPP) Model of Psychiatry Day Care Center in India: Its Challenges and Opportunities—A 2-Year Experience

Background Most patients admitted in day care center are suffering from schizophrenia who do not recover fully due to nagging negative symptoms and cognitive deficits which linger and persist making the patients unfit and unacceptable for employment. But regular employment can help in recovery. In this way, day care centers would help in recovery of patients and hence the need for these kinds of centers. In India, day care centers are in infancy stage and to a larger extent are inadequately used. There is no data available from psychiatry day care center run as public–private partnership (PPP) project in a tertiary care general hospital psychiatry unit (GHPU). This model is first of its kind in India. Here, we narrate experiences gained in last 2 years. Objectives This article narrates the challenges and opportunities in a psychiatry day care center in PPP model. Materials and Methodology It a cross-sectional study. Description of day care center: Day care center was started as PPP model called Manasadhara model in the state of Karnataka, first of its kind in India. Recruitment Patients currently asymptomatic are recruited into the center after initial interview/assessment of patients and family members from the in-charge psychiatrist after obtaining informed consent. Statistical Analysis Data are analyzed using mean and median mode. A p -value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Appropriate statistical methods were applied. Results Total number of patients recruited in the study were 33 ( n = 33). Mean age of the patients was 34.5 (7.4) years. Majority (51.52%) of patients were in the age group of between 26 and 35 years. Majority (51.52%) of patients' age of onset of illness fell between 21 and 30 years, and 63.64% of patients' duration of illness ranged between 11 and 15 years. Conclusion Running a day care center in PPP model that too in a GHPU set up is difficult. Skills in which patients need to be trained should be decided based on patients' profile and cultural basis of the place. Common problems faced were poor placements, transportation, financial difficulties, and poor funding.