Abstract

Dr. Dewesh Kumar*, Dilip Kumar, Vivek Kashyap, Arpit Gupta, Khusboo Mandal, Nimisha Vatsana

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Indian patients spend around 60% of the total expenses in accessing medical care from their pockets, but this may vary from region to region and amongst states. Considering this, the current study aims to study on the out of pocket expenditure of admitted patients in a tertiary care hospital of Jharkhand. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study and was conducted in the various departments of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi. The total duration of this study was three months from September 2017 to November 2017. A total of admitted 100 patients/relatives/attendants were interviewed using a pre tested semi structured questionnaire in major departments of RIMS and the sampling was done according to probability proportional to size. Participants were randomly recruited from each department and those gave their consent were included in the study. Results: The study clearly showed the lack of medical insurance coverage amongst the sample population which stood at just 8%, this ultimately led to almost half of the patients to take loan for the purpose of treatment in this government hospital. Of all the free services which were provided to admitted patients only food was available to 100% of the patients for free while oral drugs were least to be provided for free, which ultimately led to maximum OOP expenditure on medicines. Conclusion: The study concluded that the OOP expenditure incurred by patients was very high which made the families vulnerable to financial catastrophes making them mentally and financially onerous.