Factors influencing consumer service experience in private hospitals: a study from Bangladeshi perspective

Abstract

Private hospitals and clinics are privately managed organizations in which sick and injured persons are given medical or surgical treatments. A clinic usually provides treatments to non-resident patients, while a hospital provides the same for both resident & non-resident patients. Traditionally, healthcare has been an important activity of the government of Bangladesh since the British period and the trend continued after Bangladesh gained independence in 1971. During the early 1990’s, Bangladesh firmly committed itself to free market economy. As a result, the healthcare sector slowly began to attract greater attention of the private sector. Large segments of the population in developing countries are deprived of fundamental rights and one of which is access to basic health care. Bangladesh is no exception in this case. This study found out the factors that influence the service experience in private hospitals. Specific hypotheses were developed, information from the consumers of private hospitals was collected through structured questionnaire, data was analyzed through statistical tools and finally conclusions were drawn about the factors that influence the service experience in private hospitals. These findings will be helpful in understanding various aspects of consumers view point about the privatized health sector of Bangladesh which can be further improved.