Accessibility of the Health Care Services to Lithuanian Residents in Rural and Urban Areas
Journal Title: KultŁ«ra ir visuomenė. SocialiniŁ³ tyrimŁ³ Ł¾urnalas - Year 2011, Vol 2, Issue 1
Abstract
The article analyzes the accessibility of the health care services and identifies major barriers to them that the lithuanian residents encounter in rural and urban areas. 29 of the respondents lived in the countryside and 39, in the cities and smaller towns. 20 males and 48 females were interviewed. The qualitative and quantitative content analysis methods helped to identify financial, physical and organizational barriers to the access to the health care services.The main economic barriers to the health care services in Lithuania are expensive, partially compensated or not compensated drugs, paid services and examinations. Dental care and expensive medical tests was a particularly important barrier for the lowincome individuals. Lithuanians living in the rural areas face territorial barriers, such as additional travel costs, problematic and inconvenient routes and schedules of the public transport, and very long distances to the health care centers. It should be emphasized that without the informal support most health care services would become very complicated or even completely inaccessible for the rural residents. Finally, patients are facing long queues at the reception desks, the health care professionals’ inconvenient working hours and the medical personnel’s unethical behavior. In addition, the analysis of the health care access also demonstrates that there exists a lack of medical professionals and of objective information about the state-funded services and essential drugs in the rural areas. These factors make patients pay bribes to the doctors. It is evident that financial, organizational and physical barriers to the access of the health care are more relevant to residents with low income in the rural areas than those in the Lithuanian cities. Therefore, this group of people should become an important object for further research and health care policy in the nearest future.
Authors and Affiliations
Ilona Tamutienė, Inga Černiauskaitė, Austė Sruogaitė
Keywords
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