Evaluation of the Distribution of Laboratory and Rehabilitation Services in the Health Care System of East Azerbaijan Province

It is necessary that various aspects of health information and statistics be identified and measured, since health problems are getting more complex. This study aimed to determine the distribution of laboratory and rehabilitation services in East Azerbaijan province in 2014.
The method of this study was descriptive. The studied population consisted of all laboratory and rehabilitation service providers such as hospitals, health centers, clinics and outpatient clinics, providing their services to all sectors in East Azerbaijan province during 2014. All the centers comprising 256 laboratories, 146 imaging centers and 90 rehabilitation centers were studied. Data was collected by "Paraclinic and Rehabilitation Services Form". Content validity was approved by five experts in school of Health Management and Medical Informatics. Data was analyzed by SPSS 18.
The highest and the lowest laboratory services were provided by the private sector (51%) and the charities (0.8%), respectively. The maximum rehabilitation services were provided in the social security sector (36.6%) and the lowest belonged to the military institutions (0.9%).
The private sector in comparison with the public sector is at the forefront of laboratory and rehabilitation services. Therefore, it is suggested to design and apply policies to support and develop these sectors.