Role of Private Healthcare Facilities in Public Health Programs: A Study in Greater Accra Region

Background: Public health is a collective responsibility of everybody. Private sector plays a key role in the functioning of many sectors in both developed and developing countries which includes provision of public health services. However, there is dearth of studies on the role of private health delivery institution in public health programs in Ghana. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of private health care delivery institutions in public health programs in Ghana. Methods: Resource dependency theory was used as the theoretical framework. The study used mixed method to derive the advantages of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sample size was fifteen private healthcare facilities in Greater Accra region. It of ten private for-profit healthcare facilities and five mission facilities. Records of public health activities of the private health care institutions from 2015 to 2019 were collected from the selected health facilities for the quantitative analysis. In-depth interview was used to gather the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics and Welch two sample t-test simple to analyse the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Results: The results of the study indicate that, private for-profit healthcare facilities were not taking part in designing public health programs in Ghana. However, the mission facilities were consulted in the policy making process due to their organised nature. Conclusion: There is also a significant difference in the number of public health cases undertaken by mission and private for-profit health care facilities. The study indicates that private health care facilities undertake a lot of public health programs. However, mission facilities accommodate more public health cases due to the support they received from the state and other organisations in terms of resources.