MEASURING INEQUALITY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF HUMAN HEALTH RESOURCES: A CASE STUDY OF QAZVIN PROVINCE

Achieving justice in the distribution of health services is one of the main goals of the health system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine equality in the distribution of health human resources (physicians) of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences before and after the health transformation plan based on Gini coefficient.

 In the present descriptive-analytical and applied study, the statistical population was general practitioners, specialists, and subspecialists of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences during the years 2012 to 2018. Demographic statistics of the cities were extracted from the statistical yearbooks of the Statistics Center of Iran and physicianschr('39') statistics from the Vice-Chancellor for Treatment and Health of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences and inequality was measured using Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve in Excel 2016 and Stata 16 software.

According to the results, the highest number of general practitioners in 2015, specialists and subspecialists in 2018 and the lowest number were in 2017, 2012 and 2016, respectively. Also, the Gini coefficient of general practitioners in the years 2012 to 2018 was in the range of 0.61 and 0.63 and for specialist physicians, the lowest Gini coefficient was observed in 2016 (0.57) and the highest was found in 2018 (0.60) and it was 0.52 for subspecialists from 2012 to 2018.

According to the Gini coefficient, inequality in the distribution of general practitioners in the province did not change after the health transformation plan, and among the specialist and subspecialty physicians, the Gini coefficient was in the range of inequality to high. The transformation plan was not successful in the equal distribution of manpower, so it is necessary to redistribute and implement distribution policies.