Evaluation of the Health Services at Private Hospitals in the Context of Neoliberal Policies: A Field Study

Abstract

The regulation of health policies within the scope of neoliberal policies caused the private sector in healthcare to be supported by the states and this led to a significant increase in the number of private hospitals. Increasing the role of private hospitals and the private sector in health services, has moved away from providing health services as a basic social policy and has transformed this area into a commercial area. By commercializing health services and transforming them into a tradable commodity that can be bought and sold, has caused many problems and causing service providers to evaluate health services through market dynamics and this brought the field away from its original purpose. The purpose of this research is to determine the changes in the service quality of health services and to reveal the reasons that transform this area into an area dominated by economic relations. The stage of the research consists of patients who were treated in private hospitals in Ağrı, Muş and Patnos and benefited from the health services of these hospitals. The patient groups who benefited health services from private hospitals in Muş, Ağrı and Patnos, which are believed to represent the stage; 10 from Ağrı, 15 from Muş and 10 from Patnos, were reached using the purposeful qualitative sampling technique. The patients who constitute the sample of the study, were asked conducted questions and interviews by using semi-structured in-depth interview technique according to the subject and purpose of the research. The findings were analyzed and interpreted according to the purpose and subject of the research by using the descriptive analysis method.