Fair Distribution Investigation of General and Specialist Doctors with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods in South Khorasan Province

Background &

Fair and equitable distribution of resources in the medical sector is the most important issue for health sector decision-makers and planners. The aim of this study is to examine the distributive equity of general practitioners and specialists in cities of South Khorasan Province.
Material &

In this descriptive-cross-sectional study, inequality in the distribution of the health sector has been investigated using the Gini, Lorenz curve, Robin Hood, Atkinson, Herfindahl Hirschman and Thiel indices. To rank the cities in the distribution of specialist and general doctors, the TOPSIS method has been used. The variables include 9 indicators and 11 options (city). The information was collected from the statistical yearbook of Iran Statistics Center for 2017.

The mean index of Gini, Robin Hood, Atkinson, Herfindahl Hirschman, and Thiel are 0.18, 0.48, 0.12, 0.153, 0.119 for general doctors and 0.029, 0.27, 0.58, 0.40, 0.40 for specialists, respectively. The Lorentz curve is unbalanced for specialists and relatively balanced for general doctors. In the ranking of cities, the city of Birjand was the first and the city of Tabas the second. The cities of Qaenat, Nahbandan, Darmian, Zirkouh, Ferdous, Sarbisheh, Sarayan, Boshrooyeh, and Khosuf rank third to 11th subsequently.

Despite the recent increase in the number of doctors in South Khorasan province, the unequal distribution of general doctors and specialists is evident. Given the size of each state's population, policymakers and healthcare leaders should pay particular attention to the equitable distribution and recruitment of general practitioners and specialists within the state.