Measuring physical accessibility to health facilities--a case study on Khulna City

Improving health services is a crucial issue and an immense challenge for the government of any Third World country. Bangladesh lacks healthcare services, one of the basic necessities of life. This paper demonstrates a method for estimating the geographical accessibility of health facilities by population coverage, average travel time and distance to the closest hospital. This analysis was applied to community units in the research area, allowing geographical access to be linked to people. The study area was divided into hexagons of equal size, and accessibility was measured from the centre of each hexagon. Despite the abundance of evidence on the inadequacy of health services in Khulna City, this study has given us a diverse dimension of possibilities. The study found that even with existing health facilities, discontent about the unavailability of health services can be mitigated in most areas. Exceptions are some peripheral areas, where average travel time to reach the city centre and distance from hospital services is greater.