Instilling quality care in public hospitals uniformly across a vast democratic nation like India is a daunting task. Partnering with the private sector carries the potential for meaningful benefits, including reduced government spending with better health-care  management. The  “honorary consultant system” is an arrangement where qualified well-trained professionals are recruited by a teaching university public hospital and paid a small honorarium for their clinical services. The success of this system, when operational earlier in Mumbai, largely depended on an adequate number of consultants being recruited to share the workload, long-term secure appointments, and an unrestricted atmosphere that encouraged clinical, operative, and academic contribution within the framework of reasonable regulations and ethics.