MUMBAI, Oct. 27 -- The Maharashtra government is considering plans to run some public hospitals in tribal areas in partnership with private operators to overhaul the struggling rural healthcare system, state health minister Prakash Abitkar said on Monday.

Abitkar declined to specify how many hospitals may be run in public-private partnership (PPP), saying the move was proposed against the backdrop of unsuccessful attempts to raise the standard of medical care in rural hospitals despite orders from the Bombay High Court.

"When we faced criticism from the Bombay HC for not having specialists in the rural hospitals in the tribal belt, we did post specialists in our rural hospitals as per their orders," he said.

However, he said, doctor at...