GIS based accessibility analysis: a study on health care services in Jorhat district of Assam

Health care service is regarded as one of the key factor for complete development of a society. In present time, there are lots of people from rural areas which have very poor access to medical facilities. In comparison to the other districts of Assam, Jorhat district holds first rank in state Human Development Index, 2003. But there are some places within the district where medical facilities are not available and even where available those are not satisfactory. Therefore, an attempt has been made in this paper to explore the accessibility level of health care services using database like health centres location and major road network layers under GIS environment. It has been observed that among the eight development blocks of the district, the North-West and Titabar development blocks have registered highest number of primary health centre (PHC) and sub-health centres. The study is considered to be helpful in assessing spatial status of health care services and its proper development in future.