E-Health Approach- Evidence Based Need for Cohesive Implementation from Consumers’ Perspective

Developing countries are facing a dire health crisis with major threats to public health because of the increased need for health care which has not been matched with a commensurate increase in resource, and the imbalance is still growing. India is a developing country and to make provisions for basic health care to all the people is a difficult task for administrators because of its large and diverse geographical terrain, size of the population and its ethnic and cultural variations. From the consumer perspective, expressed demand for health services has been measured by utilization of available services, particularly when the service system has the capacity to meet the expressed demand. If a health care agency provides that care, it gradually establishes a relationship of trust with the community. Innovative data based e-Health methods and technologies seems to have the ability to answer interesting and challenging research questions and explore new avenues for solving health problems. Further, implementation of a holistic national health programme would require an assessment of the available health syatem. A cross sectional survey in geographical areas of Chandigarh, India was conducted in the urban, rural, slum, and rehabilitated communities. Though the use of private health care agencies was significantly higher in all socio-economic groups in the study sectors as compared to government health agencies, the use of indigenous health agencies was significantly higher in low socio-economic study sectors and in sectors where education levels were also lower. Further, cost effectiveness in terms of money and time were among other significant reasons for the utilization of these agencies. Along with eliminating geographical barriers, identification of the consumer segments for their perception and utilization and adopting and applying evidence based information integrated from field data, are liable to affect decisions making process in a particular context to benefit an end user in mind.