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Private or Public Sector Oral Health Care Service Trends in Area with Agro Based Economy in Sri Lanka

2021; Volume: 11; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.29322/ijsrp.11.06.2021.p11446

2250-3153

Y.M.S.S. Yapa, S.N. Kumari, S.R. Jayasinghe, T.H.N.G. Amaraweera,

Dental Education, Practice, Research

Oral health is considered as an integral part of general health care system in Sri Lanka and operated through a well-organized network of institutes in both state and private sector.The public oral health system is driven by taxes and provided free of charge at the point of delivery.The private sector is mainly financed by the patient's out of pocket expenditure.Detailed investigations on patients' behavior on the selection of services offered by above two sectors are rare in Sri Lanka.The main aim of this study is to describe the factors affecting selection of private or public sector oral health care services in the divisional secretariat area Mahiyanganaya.A cross sectional descriptive study was carried out in government and private dental clinics in Mahiyangana divisional secretariat area using interviewer administered questionnaire.A total of 422 participants were qualified for the study including patients from private and public sector equally.The socio demographic factors mainly age, gender, economic and education background of the patients may have significant influence in selection of oral health care services provider.Females predominantly used oral health care provided by both private (55.4 %) and public (73 %) sector.Younger population (21-30 y) showed a tendency to obtain oral health care facility provided by private sector (25.1 %; n = 53) while middle age group (31-40 y) preferred public sector (29.4 %; n = 62).The patients with higher education background and higher family income (> Rs. 20001.00)generally opted private sector oral health care services.Perceived patient care relationship, perceived quality of oral health care services, perceived responsiveness of oral health care services and cost of treatment are important factors related to oral health care services when selecting either private or public sector.Patients were more satisfied with the functional quality of the private sector.The cost of treatment was the most discouraging factor for selection of private oral health care sector.Patients' satisfaction for public oral health care sector can be enhanced via improving the accessibility, cleanliness of environment, selection of choice of provider and availability of dental equipment and materials.Introducing cost escalation mechanisms or cost regulation mechanisms will be vital for providing better service from the private oral health care sector.