Customer satisfaction on health service delivery a case of NHIF temeke

The general objective of this paper was to assess customer service quality and customer satisfaction of health service delivery in Tanzania focusing on the hospitals that provide health services to the members of NHIF. Specifically, the paper addresses two issues: firstly, to examine customer satisfaction on the basis of services offered to the members of NHIF by the hospitals which were studied; and secondly, it attempts to find out the level of customer satisfaction through SERVQUAL model dimensions..

The case study was used whereby data collection involved primary data and secondary data. In addition, the SERVQUAL model, which was proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry (1988) was applied. The model presupposes that service quality is the difference between expectations and performance relating to quality dimensions.

The findings indicate that, the majority of the respondents were not satisfied with the services offered by selected hospitals under NHIF as reflected by various complaints made by the customers/patients with regard to the health services delivery like, delay of services, using of harsh language, corruption, and poor services. The SERVQUAL model dimensions showed that, with respect to tangibility, 45.7% NHIF members who get health services from the selected hospitals were not satisfied with the environment and premises of the selected hospitals. With respect to reliability, the findings show that, 55.7% of NHIF members were not satisfied; and about 57.2% were not satisfied with the hospital employees’ promptness in providing services. The other attributes of the model indicated that minority of the respondents (28.6%), were not satisfied with the knowledge of employees. Finally, based on the empathy, the results indicate that 58.3% of NHIF members disagreed that the employees understand the needs of the customers.

This study was limited to one district i.e. Temeke in Dar es Salaam region in Tanzania. However, given the methodology used, the findings shed light on customer care and satisfaction in provision of health services for the members of National Health Insurance Fund.

If physical facilities, including cleanliness, modern equipment, and the general feeling that the hospital is in a good physical condition, are well perceived then patient satisfaction increases. If the hospitals’ employees do not care for the needs of the customers, it would affect the customer satisfaction in the health service delivery. This implies that customers’ complaints should be resolved on time, and they should be fully informed of avenues to escalate their complaints/grievances within the organization and their rights to alternative remedies, if they are not fully satisfied with the responses given by service providers.

The researchers developed the title, objectives, and research questions, collected and analyzed data and the results of the research are as reported.