Document Type
Master's Culminating Experience
Publication Date
2012
Abstract
India has an established system of medical and public health services to provide care to all citizens through a government‐run network of providers and infrastructure. That system, though, is constrained by socio‐economic limitations, a booming population, and the cultural variations of its population. In addition to the public efforts to provide health care, the private sector has grown to serve a large portion of the population. Many of these private initiatives are found in urban areas where the potential for financial gain are great, but others have spread into semi‐urban areas and villages to serve the more rural populations. The Sukhdev Raj Soin Hospital (SRSH) is one of the latter institutions. Founded in 2007, it is a privately owned hospital in Haryana, India that offers tertiary medical and surgical care to the surrounding population. It is located in a rural region of the country 2 hours south of New Delhi along the Delhi‐Mathura Highway (National Highway 2). The hospital’s purpose is to provide state‐of‐the‐art medical care to a population that lacks proximity and access to any similar resources.
In the region surrounding the SRSH, public health services are limited due to distance from the services and an underdeveloped system of referrals, leaving an estimated 2 million people marginalized in their access to quality medical care. This population is comprised from over 50 villages and semi‐urban areas with an economy built largely on the agricultural production of its members. With the majority of families being subsistence farmers, little capital resources exist for commodities or services such as health care which has led to the practice of bartering with the SRSH for services. In one example, a seven year‐old boy was brought to the SRSH with a month‐old femur fracture. The father admitted that he was hesitant to come to the hospital because he had heard that the village providers could give the same interventions for a much lower cost. As a result, he took his son to a local bonesetter who wrapped the leg in a bamboo cast when the injury occurred. When hospital X‐rays revealed a complete fracture of the femur with overlapping ends, the father agreed surgery was necessary but continued to delay the intervention for another day in order to bargain for a price he wanted to pay.
Because of its location in an underserved region of India, the SRSH is uniquely positioned to bridge the service gaps in the health system and to increase awareness and trust of modern health science and technologies. In order to facilitate this purpose, the SRSH employed a Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) to surrounding villages. The goals of the MHC are to achieve positive interaction with regional villagers; engender trust and encourage the use of SRSH facilities for healthcare; provide triage, referrals, and basic health care services to patients presenting to the MHC; and to distinguish the care provided by SRSH from the Rural Medical Practitioners (R.M.P.’s) and other providers in the villages.
This mobile health clinic has been used to meet the goals of the SRSH administration but its effectiveness in achieving those goals has not been formally monitored or reassessed since its inception. This document provides an assessment of that mobile health system’s goals and offers a discussion for improving those outcomes.
Repository Citation
Rothermel, L. (2012). Needs Assessment for the Mobile Health Clinic of the Sukhdev Raj Soin Hospital. Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
