Quality Assessment of Health Care Services Provided by Health Workers in Jamnagar District of Gujarat, India

BACKGROUND: About 74% of the population of India resides in the rural areas. They primarily depend on the Health Workers (HWs) regarding their health matters. Aims: The present study was conducted to assess the quality of the various health care services provided by the HWs, by probing the awareness and utilization of these services by the rural people. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in all the 37 main villages where the various Primary Health Centers (PHCs) of Jamnagar district are located. 10 mothers (having a child less than two years age and who had availed the local government health care services) were randomly selected per village for the survey. RESULTS: Only 32.7% and 77.3% mothers knew the names of HWs-Male and HWs-Female functioning in their area, respectively. About 40% of the eligible women did not receive benefits of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Chiranjivi Yojana (CY). More than half (55.1%) of the mothers did not receive any postnatal health visit by the HWs. 26.2% respondents did not receive any postnatal family planning counseling. Diphtheria, Pertusis and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine was wrongly injected in the gluteal region in 25.7% of the children. Only 4.6% of the mothers could correctly describe the technique for chlorinating a pot of drinking water. CONCLUSION: The HWs did not fully provide the health care services to the rural people. The services found to be grossly deficit were home visits, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities and faulty vaccination practices.