Comparative Analysis of Out of Pocket Expenditure at Public and Private Health Facilities in Islamabad - Abstract
Public health care facilities and private health care facilities in terms of out of pocket expenditure leads to heavy economic burden on high, middle and low income communities. A study found that individuals in the richest quintile are more likely to use private health care facilities. Even for among poorest quintile, private facilities are used for more than 20% of total outpatient visits in certain countries. The expenditure on health becomes unaffordable for the average citizen. The people still prefer private health care institutions which are costly but they have the essential facilities. The research work presents the comparison of out of pocket expenditure at public and private health care institution and also highlights its association with various income groups. The universe of the research was a public hospital Pakistan institute of medical sciences and a private hospital Shifa International Hospital at Islamabad. A quantitative research with a questionnaire was conducted to collect data from a sample of 220 respondents. The significant findings of the research presents that majority of the respondents have preferred private hospitals because of their proper health services. The reasons for this preference for private hospital have been the facilities, the clean environment and the services of the doctors toward their patients. The health recovery period has been quick at private hospital as majority of the respondents agreed. The research has indicated an increase in out of pocket expenditure on health. It has been a burden because of low income of the people. The various medical tests have also been costly. This research Out of Pocket Expenditure on health (medicine) is burden because of low income, is accepted because the significance level of the data highly supported the hypothesis.