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conferenceseries
.com
September 25-26, 2017 | Atlanta, USA
2
nd
World Congress on
Medical Sociology & Community Health
Volume 7, Issue 4 (Suppl)
J Community Med Health Educ, an open access journal
ISSN:2161-0711
Medical Sociology 2017
September 25-26, 2017
J Community Med Health Educ 2017, 7:4 (Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2161-0711-C1-028
HEALTH SEEKING BEHAVIOR OF PEOPLE AND ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE: A
SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY IN KOLKATA CITY
Mahua Patra
a
and
Sanjib Debnath
b
a
Maulana Azad College, India
b
Social Worker, India
S
tatement of the Problem: People of every society face problems during health care access. The purpose of this study is finding
the healthcare perception and accessibility pattern in West Bengal among people of different socio-economic strata by analyzing
health-care seeking behavior. This study explores the causes of particular health seeking behavior and tries to suggest solution to
improve healthcare delivery system to have optimum health accessibility. Methodology &Theoretical Orientation: This is descriptive
study based on semi structured interview, observation and focus group discussion with case studies. The people of five different wards
from different parts of Kolkata Municipal Corporation are taken as respondents. All the wards and respondents from each ward are
selected through random sampling method. Social Model of Health and social capital framework are utilized to obtain the interaction
between health care delivery system and health seeking behavior of people. Findings: All respondents wish to avoid public healthcare
sector due to various barriers rather prefer individual private or charitable doctors and the lower income group of people avail public
healthcare service having no other way but affordable people avail private hospitals. People from both the category are dissatisfied
with healthcare system. Conclusion & Significance: Healthcare seeking behavior depends upon availability, affordability, accessibility
and the quality of health care delivery system. It depends upon political, cultural, administrative, economic, technological and
ethical environment of respective society. Recommendations: Health care system should be accountable, professionally managed and
motivated to deliver service efficiently with humanitarian touch encouraging Community participation.
mahua.research@gmail.com