Crisis Management and SDG 3: Building Resilient Health Systems in the Private Sector Organizational readiness for pandemics and health-related emergencies

Abstract

The current health crisis caused by COVID-19 and other emerging diseases has revealed major weaknesses in the health systems at the global level. Although the focus of providing health care is usually put on the framework of public health, the private sector is also crucial in the continuity of health care services and their operations during possible emergent situations related to health. The proposed study focuses on the organizational preparedness of the private sector healthcare facility to deal with pandemics and health-related emergencies; the aim is aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3), which pays special attention to good health and well-being. The paper analyses crisis preparedness, decision-making process, who spends on what, and how to build resilience using a mixed-method approach, that is, using a survey, case studies and secondary data analysis in 50 private healthcare organizations. The results show that early preparedness included the existence of emergency procedures and the presence of digital health systems in most of the private organizations, although the training of the workforce, the strength of supply chains to withstand stress, and communication plans had some gaps. The work highlights the necessity to consider the crisis management and incorporate it into strategic planning, as well as provide the issue regarding the strengthening of contributions of the private sector to resilient health systems. The reliance on the urban network of the private providers in healthcare is also a limitation and in later studies, the role of the rural settings in the private sector shall be detailed as well as the intersectoral partnerships with the private providers.