Inter-district Variation in Health Care Services in Balochistan

The existence of regional inequalities in health care services is a common phenomenon at global level. Efforts are made to reduce the regional inequalities by promoting equitable access to primary health care (PHC) services and facilities. This study explores the inter-district variation in primary health care services and development in Balochistan. The study uses a set of twelve (12) PHC related indicators, out of them ten (10) are related to curative health care and two (2) indicators are selected covering the curative aspect of primary health care. By using 0-1 transformation value technique, the composite indexes are calculated for curative and preventive health care services. Districts are ranked as under developed, moderately developed, developed and less developed. There are found sharp inter-district variations in curative as well as preventive health care services in Balochistan. In order to promote the primary health care services in Balochistan the proposed recommendations include ensuring equitable provision of health professionals particularly in terms of female doctors, and decentralization of tertiary care services in order to promote primary health care services.

Autorentext

The author is a faculty member in the Department of Geography, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan and currently he is pursuing his higher studies as a Doctoral Student in the Department of Regional and Rural Development Planning, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani, Thailand.