Customer Satisfaction in Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh

Abstract

Good health is a gift of Almighty Allah. Health is the core of all human functions. Sound health secures sound mind and sound mind is the first and foremost necessity of an active human being. A developing country like Bangladesh where the main resource is manpower must focus on sound and healthy population. In this regard, proper medicare service is a crying need. The objectives of the study is to evaluate customers satisfaction and loyalty in Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh and to determine the comparative effectiveness in services of various Medicare Institutions like private, public, NGO related health care organizations and so on. The empirical study has been developed through a conceptual framework on quality service dimension and measurement of the relationships with clients' satisfaction and loyalty. There are eleven hypotheses developed for the study. To test all hypotheses, regression analysis and chi-square test have been used. Here, researcher has selected four categorical Medicare Institutions; among them 19 Medicare institutions have been taken as sample unit through random sampling from the Northern area of Bangladesh. Primary and secondary data have been collected through the self­ administered questionnaire. Semantic deferential seven (7) point rating scale questionnaire has been used here through simple random sampling. The total numbers of respondents were 567 where the 57.5 percent is male and 42.5 percent is female. The study has been conducted on 567 respondents where 59 per cent of customers live in villages and 40.9 percent of customers live in the cities. This study also represents that 46.9 percent of respondents has taken their health services from the Public Medicare Institutions and 42.3 percent of respondents has chosen Private Medicare Institutions to have their Medicare services. Among them 3.5 percent has taken their services from other Medicare Institutions and 7.2 percent of people has received their service from NGOs related Medicare Institutions. This study has also used SERVQUAL service quality model that has gained much importance over the last decades to measure the overall service standard of every enterprise. It is revealed from this study that, the reliability of service i.e. doctors' efficiency, nurses' efficiency and availability of doctors has shown satisfactory level for getting right treatment for the first time. The customer has also been satisfied on the tangibility of the service variables i.e. neat and clean operation theater (OT), use of modem Equipments but thecustomers have still been dissatisfied with the existing cleanliness of bed, cabin, floor, toilet and bathroom of the Medicare Institutions. For the communication process, they have been highly dissatisfied with the presence of agent or 'dalal'. But respondents are not satisfied regarding the application of rules and proper monitoring system and easy service receiving process provided by the Medicare Institutions in Bangladesh. The study has revealed that the male patients (mean 4.6523) have been more satisfied with the service of Private Medicare Institutions than that of the Public Medicare Institutions. The people with higher income have been more satisfied with the quality of services. Most of the respondents whose income is medium have seemed to be satisfied in Public Medicare Institutions. It has been observed from this study that overall performance of Private Medicare Institutions i.e. customer satisfaction and loyalty rate has far better than that of Public Medicare Institutions and other centers. Finally, researcher might say that the respected customers feel satisfied more in case of the Medicare of assurance of service, empathy of service and billing system. Using SERVQUAL model, the researcher has observed that the respondents are not satisfied regarding the reliability of services provided by Medicare Institutions. The result also corroborates the same view in case of cost of service, accessibility to service, responsiveness of service and communicative system. The semantic deferential 7 point rating scale provides an overall mean value that is 3.9680 towards the Medicare institutions in Bangladesh which means that the respondents are not satisfied with the existing medicare services. The mean value of satisfaction towards Private Medicare Institutions is 4.4486 and the mean value of satisfaction towards Public Medicare Institutions is 3.7077. The mean value of other types of Medicare Institutions is 3.5750. NGO related health care service shows 3.0359 mean values which prove the minimum level of satisfaction for the respondents. It is also found in the study that quality of service has been considered as a strategic advantage for the organization to gain success and to sustain in the competitive environment. The country is waiting for prudent actions to steer an improved health recovery for the continuation of economic and social progress. Health is the root of all happiness. Since health care service is crucial and sensitive issue to all, the Government should give more emphasis on policy making and proper controlling not only on the private and public Medicare Institutions but also on NGOs related healthcare and other centers. Health care sector has had a wide influence not only on building a healthy and prosperous nation but also making a solid national economy. So, all concerned and stakeholders should have an extra look on this issue without making any delay for ensuring quality health care service which is a fundamental human right to be more humane.