Abstract

Good health is paramount to each and every individual; as such countries strive to deliver good health services. Available information however indicates that health indicators in developing countries are far from satisfactory. This research was set out to unveil factors that affect the health care system in these third world countries. The study specifically focussed on finding out what influence the number of health personnel and the quantity of health resources has on the health care system and what is the quality of health care services offered in the health facilities. The Servqual Model was employed as a tool in the combined study design. Data was collected from two private hospitals and two mission hospitals. A combined research design was used in order to meet the following study objectives: first, to determine the influence of the number of health personnel and the quantity of resources on the health care system, second, to determine the quality of health care services offered in the health facilities. The approach was also used in order to increase reliability and validity of the findings from the following research sites: Mwaiwathu Private Hospital, Chitawira Private Hospital, Mlambe Mission Hospital and Malamulo Mission Hospital. Data from these sites was collected through the use of questionnaires that were administered to participants that consented to be part of the study. Some data was collected from the internet, text books, research papers, articles, electronic journals and surveys. This data was entered and analysed using excel and statistical package for social science (SPSS) Packages. The research used the Servqual Model in order to establish whether that which is provided in both the Private and Christian Hospitals Association of Malawi institutions is quality care. The analysis of this study has established that the health care system is understaffed and that the few health personnel available are negatively affected because they are unable to cope up with the high volume of patients per health personnel. It was further established that the number of health personnel and quantity of health resources affects the quality of health care delivery. It further established that the level of health care delivery in private hospitals is better than that of mission hospitals. By extrapolation of these results, it was concluded that public hospitals anchor the table. This situation can be addressed by attaining sufficient human resource levels, training of health personnel, establishment of health care delivery standards, improved resource allocation and management and increasing level of public awareness on health rights. The study has concluded that the more the number of health personnel and the greater the amount of health resources available, the better the quality of health services offered. It has also concluded that the quality of health care is best in private hospital s while in mission hospital s they offer better quality of services and in public institutions, good quality of service is offered. Recommendations have been made in regard to attaining sufficient human resource levels, training of health personnel, establishment of health care delivery standards, resource allocation and management and on public awareness on health rights.

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School	: School of Law, Economics and Government
Issued Date	: 2008

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