Inequality in distribution of human resource in health sector: case study of dentists in Fars province

Oral and dental disorders have a significant role in the development of diseases such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. So prevention of oral and dental problems should be one of the most important health system priorities. On the other hand, the fair distribution of dentists for a full coverage of the whole country is not suitable. In this study, the distribution of dentists and their density in Fars province were investigated. In this descriptive study, population statistics of Fars Province,  as well as the number of active dentists in the public sector in each county in 2015 And 2016 were obtained from the Iranian Statistics Center and the Deputy of Health of Fars province. Finally, using the Gini and Robin Hood indices, the distribution of dentists was studied. Gini index for dentists in 2015 and 2016 was calculated as 0.32 and 0.27, respectively, and 503 and 485 dentists had to be redistributed in order to achieve a complete equality. Accordingly, the number of dentists in the city of Shiraz should be reduced in order to be redistributed in other cities.  Health care policy makers should distribute dentists in different parts of the country according to their needs and based on the extent of deprivation of the areas, the success rate of past interventions in maintaining human resources, and the increasing or decreasing trend of the Decay-missing-filled teeth index in recent years.