Older Women (User) Perspective toward Service Delivery System of Government Hospital: A Study on Some Upazila Health Complex of Bangladesh

Md. Abul Hossen

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide an indepth understanding of the challenges faced by older women in relation to their health in health care settings and to understand their special needs from their own perspectives. The primary objective of the study is to explore how rural women as a health care user viewed service delivery provided by of government hospitals. In depth interviews and focus group discussion were used to collect data from twenty five older women who were admitted in the government hospital from five Upazila Health Complex taking one from five divisions of Bangladesh. The findings reveal that health care utilization of older women is impeded by three main factors: perceived discrimination based on age and class; structural aspects of the health care delivery system and quality of care. Structural aspects included inconvenient hours of operation, long waits for service, distance to the health facility, and cost of services and medications. Subthemes within quality of care were listening skills of staff, greed for money, unavailability of medications, and lack of specialized training, lack of technology and lack of female staff. Recommendations for change in the delivery of health care in the upazila health complex of Bangladesh are made based on the insights provided by this marginalized group of health care service users. . The findings of this study will enable policy makers and decision makers to understand, from their perspective, the barriers that older women from a rural region in Bangladesh encounter when trying to access health services.  The insights provided by the study will enable policy makers to strengthen the coverage and quality of local health services and to modify services so that they can respond to the particular needs of this marginalized population.

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