People’s Perception Towards Health Providers in Rural Punjab

Abstract

Accessibility to quality health care becomes a significant factor in improving the quality of life especially in developing countries. In spite of having a good health care infrastructure, the efficiency, quality and heavy cost of health care services is very weak in rural India. In such a scenario, the study attempts to analyze the availability, reach and spread of health infrastructure in rural areas of Punjab by examining the people’s choice and the factors governing their choice in health providers. The study is based on a random sample survey done in Ramdas sub-tehsil of Amritsar district and the results indicate that in the border district of Punjab more than 76 per cent of respondents preferred private providers, even quacks due to factors like easy availability of health providers, fee charged by them, free medicines dispersed, monthly income of respondents etc. while only the very poor went to public providers.