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Technical efficiency of district hospitals: evidence from Namibia using data envelopment analysis
Eyob Zere1, Thomas Mbeeli, Kalumbi Shangula
1World Health Organization, P.O. Box 30309, Lilongwe, Malawi. zeyob@yahoo.com
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation : C/E
|March 29, 2006
Summary
Namibian public hospitals show significant technical and scale inefficiency, with average efficiency below 75%. Improving efficiency could yield substantial resource gains for the health system.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Health Economics
- Public Health Policy
Background:
- Sub-Saharan Africa faces increasing healthcare demands and declining resources, impacting progress towards health-related Millennium Development Goals.
- Namibia's health system is strained, necessitating an assessment of hospital efficiency to optimize resource allocation.
- Quantifying technical inefficiency in hospitals is crucial for policymakers to identify potential resource gains.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the technical efficiency of public sector hospitals in Namibia.
- To identify the levels and sources of inefficiency within these hospitals.
- To inform policy decisions for improving healthcare resource management.
Main Methods:
- Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was employed to evaluate technical efficiency.
- The study included all 30 public sector hospitals in Namibia.
- Hospital capacity utilization, three inputs, and two outputs were analyzed over four financial years (1997/98-2000/01), with Jackknife analysis for robustness.
Main Results:
- A significant degree of pure technical and scale inefficiency was found in Namibian public hospitals.
- The average technical efficiency was below 75% during the study period.
- Increasing returns to scale was the predominant form of scale inefficiency, with less than half of hospitals operating on the efficient frontier.
Conclusions:
- High levels of technical and scale inefficiency in district hospitals may hinder efforts to improve healthcare access and quality.
- Inefficient hospitals can learn from their efficient counterparts to enhance overall health system performance.
- Addressing inefficiency is vital for achieving national health goals and improving healthcare delivery in Namibia.
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