Evaluating the impact of outsourcing commercial and passenger healthcare services at the border from Astara on the quantity and quality of IHR implementation

 International Health Regulations (IHR) are aimed at preventing and responding to acute public health risks. The city of Astara has a large population due to its land border (passenger, commercial). This study set out with the aim of evaluating the impact of healthcare services outsourcing to private sector during Covid-19 pandemic on the quantity and quality of )IHR( implementation as compared with public service delivery in 2018-2021.

 During this quasi experimental study, healthcare services included vaccination, negative rapid test, rapid test, and screening for flu-like syndrome, which are performed by the private sector. Paired samples t-test using SPSS v27.was conducted to compare these services with those that were previously carried out by the government through total population sampling. Ethical considerations were observed in all stages of the study.

 The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of Covid-19 vaccination, negative rapid test, and rapid test carried out in the public and private commercial and passenger sectors were (101.46± 44.15 and 2.33± 3.83), (14.07± 12.83 and 0.8±2.02), (134.33 ± 27.97 and 4.97± 6.43), (30.14± 25.34 and 1.67 ±3.77), (137.40± 27.52 and 4.97± 6.43) and (33.04±27.01 and 1.67±3.77). These results were found to be statistically significant (P-value < 0.001).

 The results pointed towards the improvement of both the quality and quantity of healthcare following outsourcing. Pilot implementation in Gilan province requires special attention with regard to the allocation of funds for its better implementation.