Health care facility system: A block level analysis of Uttar Dinajpur District, West Bengal, India

Human health has long been seen as one of the most important measures of human progress. The general health of a population is a good indicator of the quality of health-care services offered in that location. In recent years, there has been renewed emphasis on efficiency in resource utilization in the healthcare sector. Most studies in the Indian context have focused on block level analysis. This paper explores block level health system efficiency in the district of Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal. The analysis estimates the efficiency of the healthcare system at the block level using district-level data for 2017-2018. The goal of this study is to examine several aspects of health-care facilities in order to determine the state of the health-care system in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, India. To do so, the Health Care Facility Index (HCFI) is calculated to assess the district's total health care situation. The Raiganj block in Uttar Dinajpur district has a higher average HCFI rating (0.9452) than the Itahar CD block (0.0625). There is a substantial difference in performance between the most efficient block of Raiganj and the least efficient block of Itahar, resulting from inadequate utilization of available health care resources. The study also identifies complementarities of private health care resources and the role of other factors, such as Health Care Institution Population Ratio (HCIPR), Bed Population Ratio (BPR), Doctor Population Ratio (DPR), Doctor Health Care Institution Ratio (DHCIR) and Bed Health Care Institution Ratio (BHCIR). The results suggest a need for better utilization of budgetary resources, both under the state department of health and the National Rural Health Mission, to increase health manpower and improve quality through training and better management resources in order to improve district health systems in Uttar Dinajpur.