Evaluating the Development of the Health Sector in North Khorasan Province

The issue of development is the concern of many countries and since no one will be satisfied with their life without health, the establishment of health in the fundamental principles of development is inevitable. Therefore, this research investigated the development status of the cities of North Khorasan province in terms of health and treatment indicators.

The present study was an economic evaluation. The statistical population consisted of all 8 cities of North Khorasan province, which were ranked based on 30 selected health and treatment indicators proposed in 2016, and their level of development was determined using the numerical taxonomy method. The data were entered into Excel 2010, and SPSS software version 23 was used to calculate the descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation.

The highest level of development was found in Bojnourd with Fi=0.416011 as relatively developed, and the lowest was in Raz and Jargalan with Fi=0.925874 rated as undeveloped. Moreover, other cities were respectively ranked as follows: Esfarayen Fi=0.572835, Jajarm Fi=0.617056, Shirvan Fi=0.627777, Farooj Fi=0.729569 as less developed, and Maneh Va Samalqan Fi=0.793439 and Garmeh Fi=0.847409 as undeveloped.

It is essential that national and provincial planners adopt policies to equitably allocate health and treatment facilities to the cities of the province, so that it leads to sustainable development.