RELUCTANCE TO SERVE IN RURAL AREAS: DOCTORS' PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Background: Pakistan's health care system has been adversely affected by the non-availability of doctors in its rural and remote areas. It is the high time to realize that the improvement in the standard of health care services can be achieved with willingness and dedication of doctors to work in these areas which is only possible by providing them with suitable working environment. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 200 doctors working in public and private hospitals/clinics of Islamabad, Pakistan. Data was collected through a questionnaire and processed in SPSS software version 16. Results: 200 doctors comprising of 113 males and 87 females were recruited for the study. The mean age was 30 years (0.65 SD). Majority (86.5 %) of the doctors were of the view; that indeed it was the non-availability of doctors at rural health care centres for poor health services in such areas. 83.9 % agreed that basic facilities were lacking in rural areas. Regarding transportation, 74.5 % had the opinion that these facilities were inadequate in rural areas. Nevertheless, 84.5 % agreed that by improving the basic facilities of life, working conditions could be improved. However, 72.5 % supported the idea of extra hard area grant to improve doctors' motivation towards serving rural areas. Conclusion: Doctors were reluctant to serve in rural areas because of the difficulties affecting their social, professional and family life. By developing the infra-structure of health centres and by providing some special incentives to the serving doctors, this issue can be resolved to a considerable extent.