Effectiveness of community clinics in primary healthcare in Bangladesh: An empirical study

The aim of this study is to understand the effectiveness of community clinics with regard to primary health care at rural level. The study findings show a good number of the people who go to clinics for taking health services are middle aged to elderly poor living in rural areas. In many cases people are not getting services due to scarcity of medicine, irregularities of community health care providers, absence of periodical visit by medical officers and Health Assistant/Family Welfare Assistant and remain closed for long days. Thus, the majority of the people in rural areas are deprived of sufficient primary health care services. The indifferent behaviour of community groups and community support groups made community clinics vulnerable. Also, community peoples’ participation in community groups or community support groups is not satisfactory and they are reluctant in carrying out their responsibilities on behalf of the community concerning community clinics. In reality, community clinics are not able to provide sufficient services to the rural poor.