Patterns and Determinants of Utilization of Healthcarein Urban Field Practice Area of a Tertiary Care Institute, Hyderabad

Introduction: It is estimated that 68% of the World’s population shall live in urban areas by 2050; India will have added 416 million to the urban population. With rapid increase in population, the healthcare needs also increase. In 2016, 63% of the deaths were due to non-communicable diseases and 26% due to communicable diseases. India is a country with high level of morbidity. Communicable diseases contribute to the morbidity more than the non-communicable diseases. Despite the increasing public and private expenditure on healthcare, utilization of health services still remain low. The utilization of public health services in India range from 10-30%.

Aim and Objective: To study the Patterns and Determinants of Utilization of Healthcare.

Materials and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 256 attendees of a health camp conducted in urban field practice area, using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Data entered into Microsoft excel and analysed using SPSS 20.

Results: The overall population of the area was 7634, 2256 were attended the camp giving a 30% utilisation. Out of 256 patients 40.6% were males and 59.4% were females. 25.7% Respiratory, 12.9% musculoskeletal and 11.7% gastrointestinal problems were common. It was found that the behavioural determinants of subjects utilising healthcare facilities both in public and private sector showed that free services was observed as main factor for approaching public healthcare against reliability. Whereas less waiting time was the principal factor compared to cleanliness for visiting private healthcare.

Conclusion: In the study population, Respiratory problems were found to be highest, private healthcare facility was preferred.