‘The report also throws light on the fact that the rural people do not trust Charitable/Trust/NGO for treating ailments whereas in urban areas only 1.7 percent prefers treatment from them.’
A majority of people in Jammu and Kashmir are not covered by any medical expenditure scheme.
It was revealed by National Sample Survey (NSS)’s 75th round of survey conducted—from July 2017 to June 2018—on household consumption related to health titled ‘Health in India’.
The objective of the report was to gather quantitative information on various aspects of the health sector like morbidity, profile of ailments including their treatment, role of government and private facilities in providing healthcare, expenditure on medicines, expenditure on medical consultation and investigation, hospitalization and expenditure thereon, maternity and childbirth, the condition of the aged, etc.
Population with health expenditure coverage
97.6 percent and 94.6 percent of person’s health expenditures in rural and urban areas respectively are not covered by any scheme in Jammu and Kashmir.
Only a meager 0.4 percent (rural) and 0.9 percent (urban) person’s health expenditure is covered by the government-sponsored insurance scheme.
The health expenditure of the government and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) employees are covered by their respective departments.
In rural areas, 1.7 percent of the expenditure is covered by government/PSU, while in urban areas, it is 2.7 percent.
Proportion of ailing persons
In the rural area of J&K, 1,331 children aged between 0-5 years and 756 persons aged more than 60 years were surveyed for chronic ailments. 1,447 persons were hospitalized during the last 365 days.
The number of persons surveyed in urban areas was less. 802 children aged between 0-5 years and 580 persons aged more than 60 years were surveyed for chronic ailments. 994 persons were hospitalized during the last 365 days.
According to the report, persons reporting ailment during last 15 days for which they were hospitalized and not hospitalized was 15 and 604 respectively in rural areas and 13 and 639 respectively in urban areas.
Treatment seeking behaviour
A majority of people in urban and rural parts prefer government/public hospitals for treatment. 77 percent of people in the rural area chose government/public hospital for treatment and in urban areas, it was 50.5 percent.
Private doctors rank second as a preference for treatment amongst rural (20.2 percent) and urban (45 percent) persons.
The report also throws light on the fact that the rural people do not trust Charitable/Trust/NGO for treating ailments whereas in urban areas only 1.7 percent prefers treatment from them.
Nature of Treatment
98.3 percent of people in J&K—both urban and rural—chose allopathy as the nature of treatment. Other options surveyed include the Indian system of medicine (1.6 percent), homeopathy (0), Yoga and naturopathy (0.1 percent) and other sources (0).
Percentage of persons treated as in-patient any time during 365 days
The number of female in-patients in both rural (28) and urban areas (33 percent) is more as compared to male in-patients (18 percent in rural and 24 percent in urban).
Overall 24 percent of persons are treated as in-patient, out of which 29 percent are females and 19 percent are males.
Most of the in-patients are in the age group of 60 and above in both rural (64 percent) and urban regions (83 percent).
Average medical expenditure per hospitalization case (excluding childbirth)
The expenditure incurred in government hospitals is far less as compared to private hospitals.
As per the report, there is a difference of Rs 45,323 and Rs 30,515 between government and private hospital expenditure in rural and urban areas respectively.
The average private hospital expenditure in urban areas (Rs 39,718) is less than in rural areas (Rs 50,043) whereas the government medical expenditure has an opposite trajectory.
A different trend is seen in the medical expenditure of males and females (in-patients) in rural and urban regions.
In urban regions, the average medical expenditure at government hospitals is more for females (Rs 10,638) than males (Rs. 7,686) whereas in rural areas the opposite is true.
Distribution of childbirth
Most of the childbirths in the urban and rural areas are done in public hospitals.
However, the number of deliveries in the rural area (94.3 percent) is more in public hospitals than in urban areas (75.9 percent).
The number of people opting for a private hospital for child delivery is more in urban areas (21.5 percent).
A majority of people going for non-institutional delivery choose un-skilled personnel over skilled personnel.
Most of the non-institutional deliveries are attended by unskilled personnel in rural (2.8 percent) and urban areas (2.5 percent).
Economic independence of the aged person
Only 3 percent of aged females are independent in rural regions as compared to 55 percent aged independent males.
In urban areas, the condition is even worse.
85 percent of aged women are fully dependent on others whereas in rural areas the figure is 79 percent.
A majority of aged persons are financially dependent on their children in rural (69 percent) and urban areas (75 percent).
Immunization of children in the age group 0-5 years
A child who has received BCG, OPV-1, OPV-2, OPV-3, DPT-1, DPT-2, DPT-3, and measles vaccine is referred to as fully immunized.
64 percent of children in rural areas are fully immunized and in urban areas, the count is slightly more (66.8 percent).
In rural areas most of the children receive immunization from Primary Health Centre/dispensary/Community Health Centre/mobile medical unit whereas in urban areas parents prefer government/public hospitals.
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