A Study on Sectoral Contributions in Medical Assets and Patient Migrations Under The Swasthyasathi Scheme

Abstract

This paper analyses the data on the “SwasthyaSathi†scheme run by the Government of West Bengal. The objective is to assess the relative share of private and public sector hospitals in providing healthcare facilities under the scheme, analyse trends in patient migrations from various districts to Kolkata and to draw inference on the state of medical infrastructure in West Bengal. Statistical techniques like coefficient of variation, standard deviation and Student’s T-Test has been used. The paper has found that larger numbers of empanelled hospitals under SwasthyaSathi are from private sector. However, government hospitals have higher bed count. The districts from where patients migrate to Kolkata have higher variability in the availability of medical infrastructure.