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Availability
of doctors is seen to be the key indicator of patient satisfaction and
reliability of a health service (PEO, 2001; Gopakumar et al. 2002).
Unavailability of doctors in primary health centres has been an
important public concern (The Hindu, 2003; Times News Network, 2003;
Gungubele, 1997). The Institute of Health Systems (IHS) is conducting
the study to measure the operational availability and job satisfaction
of Medical Officers in Primary Health centers in Andhra Pradesh. This
study has been commissioned by the Planning Department, Government of
Andhra Pradesh. The study stems from an earlier study "Assessment
of Critical Gaps in Rural Health Infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh"
where the distance of the doctor’s residence from the PHC and
private practice of Medical Officer had an impact on their operational
availability
In
this current study, IHS is using different qualitative and
quantitative approaches to measure the availability and job
satisfaction of Medical Officers in 186 Primary Health Centres (PHCs
)in 22 districts and 9 ITDAs of Andhra Pradesh. The IHS field team
members are conducting the data collection in the randomly selected 6
PHCs in each district and 6 PHCs in each ITDA. In each PHC village,
the team members are staying for 3 days and observing the patterns of
availability through use of different data collection procedures. So
far, they have completed data collection in 162 Primary Health Centers
(PHC) from 20
districts of AP and 7
ITDAs. The data collection instruments
have been rigorously field tested and revised with the insights gained
from the field work. The study is scheduled to be completed by May
2010 and is expected to generate strong evidence to influence HR
policy for Health.
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