A Study of Inter-District Disparities in Health Infrastructure in Haryana, India

Haryana, despite being an economically strong State of India, is suffering from the problem of inter-district disparities in health infrastructure. Among twenty one districts of the State, a few are endowed with better health facilities while others are lagging behind. Consequently, it becomes necessary to study the district wise availability of health infrastructure in terms of hospitals, health centres, beds in medical institutions, doctors, nurses et cetera in State of Haryana so that inequalities can be understood and remedies can be offered. Keeping in view this backdrop, the present study is attempted to examine the inter-district disparities in health infrastructure in Haryana. For this purpose, ten indicators of health infrastructure are selected and their Coefficient of Variation, Ratios and Deprivation and Development Indices are worked upon. At the outset, statistical values of Coefficient of Variation confirm the gaps in the availability of health facilities in various districts of Haryana and variations are found to be highest in case of the available beds in medical institutions followed by hospitals and dispensaries. Further, the findings highlights that in most of the districts, the ratios of health infrastructural indicators including doctor, nurse, bed, hospital, Primary health centre, Community health centre, dispensary to population are insignificant and exploring wide imbalances. Finally, the deprivation as well as development indices of health infrastructure reveal the discrepancies in districts with regard to health infrastructural development. On the basis of these indices it is found that the districts including Bhiwani and Hisar are developed while Rohtak, Sirsa, Karnal, Jind, Sonipat are experiencing moderate level of development in health facilities. Lastly, the third category of the districts are Palwal, Mewat, Panipat, Faridabad, Rewari, Fatehbad, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Mahendragarh, Kaithal, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Jhajjar which are underprivileged with regard to the development of health infrastructure and thus, looking for immediate attention with concrete plan of action from Government of Haryana.