Primary Health Centres: Preferred Option for Birthing Care in Tamilnadu, India, from Users’ Perspectives.
Date
2015-03
Journal Title
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Abstract
Tamilnadu state of India witnessed an increasing trend of institutional deliveries since the beginning of
1990s, with decline of domiciliary deliveries to nearly zero now. Among the institutional deliveries, a shift
has been observed since 2006 wherein primary health centres (PHC) have shown a four-fold increase in the
number of deliveries while other public and private health facilities showed a decline, despite equal access
by people to all categories of health facilities. A qualitative study was designed to explore the determinants
that led to increased preference of PHCs for birthing care. In-depth interviews and FGDs were conducted
with recently-delivering women and their spouses. User-friendly ambience, courteous attitude and behaviour
of staff, good infrastructure, availability of qualified staff, and relative absence of informal payments
have contributed to increased preference for birthing care in PHCs. Barriers to seeking care from secondary
and tertiary-level public hospitals and private hospitals have also made women prefer PHCs.
Description
Keywords
Birthing care, Institutional deliveries, Primary health centres, Quality of care, India
Citation
Jayanthi T.P, Suresh Saradha, Padmanaban P. Primary Health Centres: Preferred Option for Birthing Care in Tamilnadu, India, from Users’ Perspectives. Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition. 2015 Mar; 33(1): 177-186.