Day 80 – Q 3.In general, the quality of medical services provided in government hospitals is far from satisfactory. Why? What measures can be taken to give patients a better experience in terms of service delivery? Suggest.
3. In general, the quality of medical services provided in government hospitals is far from satisfactory. Why? What measures can be taken to give patients a better experience in terms of service delivery? Suggest.
सामान्य तौर पर, सरकारी अस्पतालों में दी जाने वाली चिकित्सा सेवाओं की गुणवत्ता संतोषजनक नहीं है। क्यों? सेवा वितरण के संदर्भ में मरीजों को बेहतर अनुभव देने के लिए क्या उपाय किए जा सकते हैं? सुझाव दें।
Introduction:
The recent episodes of children deaths in Kota, Muzzafarpur illustrate the abysmal quality of medical services provided by the government hospitals.
Body
Reasons for low quality of medical services in government hospitals:
- Lack of value system among doctors: Most of the government hospital doctors practice in private and ignore the quality of service provided in hospital.
- Apathy/insensitivity of the government: with health spending not increased, infrastructure facilities not developed.
- Hygiene: due to low/no profitability along with insufficient government support, funds are insufficient to maintain the hygiene required to avoid infection, quarantine of patients are not possible.
- Lack of healthy work culture: the staff and the doctors often lack empathy and compassion. They forget that they are doing a public service and results in lack of punctuality, responsiveness and discipline which degrades the service quality.
- Medical ethics is missing which is also not taught as a part of curriculum.
Measures that can be taken:
- Building a healthy work culture through training to doctors and other staff. They need to understand that it is a service and they are not doing any favor by working, but it is like any other remunerative job which hinges on quality of service delivery.
- Building ethical values among medical and nursing students and teach them medical ethics so that they work in government hospitals efficiently as well as serve in rural areas.
- Increasing investment in health to 3% of GDP as envisaged by various committees.
- Bringing Transparency and accountability with effective policy monitoring/evaluation, use of technologies in implementing government schemes like PM Jan suraksha yojana, Mission Indradhanush, Ayushman Bharat etc., which are implemented mainly by government hospitals.
- Awareness among citizens regarding their rights in availing services in government hospitals.
- Implementation of citizen charter with effective grievance redressal mechanism under the supervision of district administration.
Conclusion
“It is health that is the real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”- Gandhiji.
Government hospitals are at the forefront in health services provided to at least 2/3rd of the population. A positive work culture and sense of moral values has to be cultivated to improve the quality of services in government hospitals.
