The Reasons Behind the Shift of Patients from Public to Private Hospitals: Evidence from Public Hospitals in Cumilla City Corporation

Abstract

Health care services involve improving our health necessities. Public hospitals play a vital role to provide health services to the people. The private sector also comes forward and working with hand to hand with the government. This study investigates the reasons behind the patient's shift from public to private hospitals at Cumilla City Corporation (CuCC) in Bangladesh. This study has found that the total numbers of physicians are very few compared to demand in government hospitals which are why the time consideration to prescribe a patient is quite poor. The behavior of physicians, nurses and other staff accelerates the patient shift in private hospitals. The environmental quality of the public hospital is also an important reason for the patient's shift to private hospitals. Distance between household and public hospitals also a major barrier to adequate services of the public hospital. The current study contributes to assures the importance of public health care services to the stakeholders of the study.