JBS Vol 11. Num 2. 2009 - A Comparison of Health Service Quality in Public, Private, and Foreign Hospitals: Perceptions of Bangladeshi Patients

This study compares the quality of healthcare services in public, private and foreign hospitals as perceived by
hospital patients from Bangladesh. With poor funding and lack of improvements in the public health services,
private health care has seen rapid growth. However, their quality of services remains in question. With the growing
number of patients going out of the country for healthcare needs, it important to compare the perceived service
quality in the three types of hospitals to gain insights and establish benchmarks so that patients do not have to go
overseas for health services and so that both public and private hospitals are able to upgrade their services to better
meet the needs of patients. To ensure comparability, similarly “reputed” hospitals were selected from the three
groups. A survey was conducted through exit polls of a random sample of 400 patients released from selected
hospitals in Dhaka City. Users of foreign hospitals were selected using snowball sampling for lack of lists. Using
multivariate and univariate ANOVA, significant differences were found between the three groups on service quality
measures. The findings suggest that service delivery by hospitals in Bangladesh has much room for improvement. In
particular, to stop the outflow of foreign exchange, the improvements, at a minimum, must match the services
provided by foreign hospitals. To accomplish this, policy measures and improved managerial practices must be
introduced into the country’s health care system.