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Friendly service, modern facilities draw people to private healthcare centres, The Hindu, June 7, 2017

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Study conducted in 85 households at Panangad and Kaloor

Kochi | Staff Reporter | The Hindu | June 7, 2017

Modern medical services offered in a friendly manner attracts people to private healthcare centres, says a study conducted in the city.

The reliability and approachability of doctors and staff were among other reasons identified for preferring private healthcare institutions. Proximity was an equally important factor for people utilising the services of private hospitals in the rural area.

The city-based Centre for Public Policy Research undertook the study titled “Public and Private Healthcare Institutions: Preference and Expenditure Pattern” in an attempt to identify the extent of and reasons for user preference of healthcare services and its resultant impact on the expenditure pattern. The study was conducted in 85 households selected randomly at Panangad and Kaloor, a rural area and an urban centre, respectively.

The study revealed that 70% of the people preferred to go to a private institution rather than approach public healthcare services. Even those from the lower income groups preferred private healthcare services, according to the study.

While the respondents depended on the public facilities for routine preventive healthcare, they utilised the services of private healthcare institutions for acute illness, trauma, injury, poisoning etc.

The study did not find any significant relationship between the age group, household income, the mode of expenditure or education of the respondents and their preference for private healthcare services.

The study pointed out that access to advanced medical facilities under a single roof was the main reason for the respondents’ choice of private hospitals in both rural and urban areas. The second major reason for private healthcare preference was proximity of the facility in the rural area and approachability and friendly conduct of doctors and staff in the urban centres. Reliability is the third major reason for preferring a private centre in urban areas while friendly conduct of doctors and staff was the third reason in the rural area. The tilt towards private healthcare centres had been a trend in the State for a long time in the 70:30 ratio. However, with the government opening non-communicable disease clinics in the past three years, there had been an influx of patients into these clinics as free medicines was a major attraction, according to a senior Health official in the district.

This news is based on the a study done by CPPR on “Public and Private Healthcare Institutions: Preference and Expenditure Pattern”

This News was first published in The Hindu on June 7, 2017. Click here to read the news: Friendly service, modern facilities draw people to private healthcare centres

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