Catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment effects of out-of-pocket expenses: A comparative study of tannery and non-tannery workers of Kanpur, India

Abstract

Purpose:Treatment-seeking behaviors and economic burden because of health expenditure are widely discussed issues in India, and more so in recent times. The aim of this study is to identify health problems of tannery workers and their treatment-seeking behavior and their health expenditure.Data and Methods:The primary data used in this article were collected through a cross-sectional household survey of 284 male tannery workers in the Jajmau area of Kanpur city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, during January–June 2015.Results:Findings of the study revealed that around 36% of the tannery workers and 42% of non-tannery workers received treatment as outpatients in government/municipal hospital in the first spell of treatment. The secondary source of treatment was pharmacy/drug stores for 30% of the tannery workers and 24% of the non-tannery workers, an indication that a substantial proportion takes treatment without consulting a qualified medical practitioner; it also highlights that almost one-third of the tannery and non-tannery workers visited private health facility despite poor economic condition. It is evident that a substantial proportion of tannery and non-tannery workers are visiting private/non-governmental organization/trust hospital despite their poor financial situation.Conclusion:There is an urgent need to reinstate people's faith in public health facilities by developing professionalism, integrity, and accountability among different levels of health functionaries and frontline workers with the support of credible, transparent, and responsible regulatory environment.

Out-of-pocket expenditures and catastrophic expenditures on inpatient care among households of an urban village in Delhi

“…Although we found that a higher proportion of households had hospitalization treatment in the study, the mean duration of inpatient care in this study was 4.7 ± 4.6 days, with a median of 3 days, which is markedly lesser than those found by Rout and Choudhary (Odisha, 2018) 16 and Kashyap et al (Kanpur, 2018), 15 likely due to high turnover rate of patients at nearby large tertiary care hospitals. Rout and Choudhary (Odisha, 2018) 16 found the average duration of inpatient care at secondary-level public health institutions in two districts of Odisha to be 6.14 days.…”

“…Rout and Choudhary (Odisha, 2018) 16 found the average duration of inpatient care at secondary-level public health institutions in two districts of Odisha to be 6.14 days. Similarly, Kashyap et al (Kanpur, 2018) 15 reported, the mean duration of stay for tannery workers to be 18.7 ± 11.9 days.…”

“… 14 The reason could be that the current population having better accessibility to multiple public healthcare facilities in proximity along with the study demography comprising mainly of migrant workers employed in low-income jobs, having minimal household expenditure on food and healthcare, makes them more vulnerable to frequent inpatient care episodes. This is further emphasized by the findings of Kashyap et al (Kanpur, 2018) 15 who reported that 6% of tannery workers had hospitalization episodes in the last 1 year.…”

Constructing a Reproductive Health Account Under National Health Accounts Framework at Sub-District Levels in Karnataka, India

“…Next private sector stands out majorly dominated by HHs as FA contributing a massive 79.19% in co-payments. 10.08% OOPE financed by borrowings similarly reported by earlier studies was impacting lifestyle via implicit costs (Bajpai et al, 2017;Haghparast-Bidgoli et al, 2015;Kashyap et al, 2018;Mishra & Mohanty, 2019;Sharma et al, 2002). Indian Government's target of doubling the public health expenditure by 2025 necessitates stronger Health Management Information System (HMIS) tracking.…”

Investigating catastrophic health expenditure among people living with HIV and AIDS in South Western Nigeria

“…Likewise, the higher use of patients' savings (37.7%) for healthcare in HIV services in this study was in agreement with what was found in a study where being a patient and a payer for medical bills increased susceptibility to the CHE. People with poor household incomes face more burdens of CHE, which is a hindrance to the attainment of UHC as more households of poor status are further pushed into poverty [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Poverty is both a cause and a consequence of HIV/AIDS.…”