Reaction of patients towards the evening OPD services in hospitals of Delhi.

Abstract

The Evening O. P. D. services were started in six major hospitals of Delhi as a consequence of its successful running in one hospital. The present study was undertaken to assess the reactions of the beneficiaries of this service in terms of the content of service, the nature and type of care that is provided and its usefulness. With the help of an interview schedule, a random sample of 155 evening OPD patients which was drawn from these governmental hospitals, it was found that this service was grossly underutilised. There were many, reasons but in the main these were non-availability of supportive services, and non-availability of senior doctors in the evening OPD. Lack of proper publicity of this service in the city and the lack of additional resources required to man this service in the evening hours were also highlighted. The administrators of the hospitals were cautious to publicise this service in the public for want of additional resources.