This paper is part of earlier research work conducted in the health care services sector. The customer relationship management concept has encouraged the adoption of a marketing culture not only in the private sector, but in public health care sector as well. In this paper the authors have analysed the factors affecting patient satisfaction in public health care outpatient services. Patient satisfaction is measured with respect to technical and non- technical characteristics of health care service encounters, categorised into four basic components: attitude towards doctors, attitude towards medical assistants, quality of administration and quality ofatmospherics. The authors hypothesise that all four factors are closely related to consumer satisfaction. The paper measures the degree of consumer satisfaction experienced by patients through the tested self-developed five-point Likert scale and has highlighted the problem faced by them. The impact of age, education level and gender ofthe decision maker on satisfactionldissatisfaction is analysed using relevant statistical tools. The responses have been integrated into important factors on the basis of factor analysis after verifying the validity and reliability of the schedule. The paper concludes with the strategic actions necessary for meeting the needs of patients of the government health care sector in developing countries.

The concept of patient satisfaction has encouraged the adoption of marketing culture in service sector including health care services. This article reports the findings of a survey aimed at understanding the extent of patient satisfaction with diagnostic services. It has constructed a special instrument for measuring patient satisfaction. The instrument captures the behaviour of doctors and medical assistants, quality of administration, and atmospherics. The role of demographic characteristics like gender, occupation, education, and income is also considered. Based on the findings, the article suggests strategic actions for meeting the needs of the patients of private health care sector more effectively.