Primary health centres: preferred option for birthing care in tamilnadu, India, from users' perspectives

• Published in: Journal of health, population and nutrition Vol. 33; no. 1; pp. 177 - 186
• Main Authors: Jayanthi, T P, Suresh, Saradha, Padmanaban, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bangladesh BioMed Central 01.03.2015; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
• Subjects: Adult; Birthing Centers - organization & administration; Female; Focus Groups; Health Care Costs; Health facilities; Humans; India; Maternal Health Services - organization & administration; Original Papers; Patient Preference; Pregnancy; Primary care; Quality of care; India; Tamil Nadu India; Birthing care; Institutional deliveries; Primary health centres; Quality of care; India
• ISSN: 1606-0997; 2072-1315

Tamilnadu state of India witnessed an increasing trend of institutional deliveries since the beginning of 1990s, with decline of domiciliary deliveries to nearly zero now. Among the institutional deliveries, a shift has been observed since 2006 wherein primary health centres (PHC) have shown a four-fold increase in the number of deliveries while other public and private health facilities showed a decline, despite equal access by people to all categories of health facilities. A qualitative study was designed to explore the determinants that led to increased preference of PHCs for birthing care. In-depth interviews and FGDs were conducted with recently-delivering women and their spouses. User-friendly ambience, courteous attitude and behaviour of staff, good infrastructure, availability of qualified staff, and relative absence of informal payments have contributed to increased preference for birthing care in PHCs. Barriers to seeking care from secondary and tertiary-level public hospitals and private hospitals have also made women prefer PHCs.