Abstract
Background: Pakistan is one of the largest host of refugees. People in Pakistan have bad access to healthcare not only due to bad facilities but also due to discrimination based on their personal characteristics and possessions. The behavior not only damages the dignity of the people being targeted but also creates hindrances in further seeking professional medical help and follow-ups thus deteriorating the health status of the community as a whole. Health providers possess a moral commitment to encourage dignity and treat their patients without any kind of discrimination in their behavior. Patient experiences of discrimination result in delay in seeking healthcare, they do not stick to advice of professionals and ultimately poor health. The objective of this study is to identify sources of discrimination and its effects on patients' health status and their level of satisfaction.
 Methods: This descriptive study took place in Outdoor Patient Department, Mayo Hospital, Lahore. 170 patients were selected from all the patients coming to OPD with equal male to female ratio. Each patient was given a questionnaire containing relevant questions to know whether they faced any sort of discriminatory behavior or not.
 Results: 66% females and 49% males of the study sample experienced discrimination at some stage of their hospital visit.
 Conclusion: Our study concluded that females experienced more discrimination than males. Therefore, gender is the most important factor when it comes to discriminatory experiences. Moreover, people with the higher income had fewer incidents of discrimination than their counterparts.
Highlights
In Pakistan, the system of health has basically been originated from the health system of British before the Independence of subcontinent
People in Pakistan have bad access to healthcare due to bad facilities and due to discrimination based on their personal characteristics and possessions
Patient experiences of discrimination result in delay in seeking healthcare, they do not stick to advice of professionals and poor health
Summary
In Pakistan, the system of health has basically been originated from the health system of British before the Independence of subcontinent. The objective is to identify sources of discrimination and its effect on patients' health status and patients’ level of satisfaction. People in Pakistan have bad access to healthcare due to bad facilities and due to discrimination based on their personal characteristics and possessions. Health providers possess a moral commitment to encourage dignity and treat their patients without any kind of discrimination in their behavior. The objective of this study is to identify sources of discrimination and its effects on patients' health status and their level of satisfaction. People with the higher income had fewer incidents of discrimination than their counterparts
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