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World Bank Working Paper
Figure 2.3. Distribution of Physicians, by Main Practice Location, 2008 2,500 284
2,546
DRS
Total
400
2,000 Number of physicians
118
431 1,500 200
1,000
500
0
100
350 500
Office
Private hospital
CSCOM
Others (NGO, INPS)
Public hospital
CSREF
Central and similar
Sources: Ministry of Health (data 2008); BCG analysis. Note: Assumption of two physicians per office and five physicians per private hospital.
physicians, the number of private practitioners is growing every year. Private practitioners represented around 48 percent of all physicians in 2008 (figure 2.3). Rural Practitioners
Less than 10 percent of all physicians practice in a rural environment. Partly grouped within the rural physician association (AMC) and supported by the programs of the Santé Sud association, rural practitioners consist of
■ ■
Physicians (about 200) working in a CSCOM, according to the Human Resources Directorate of the Ministry of Health Family physicians (about 30) with their own practice and physicians employed by religious / associative providers, according to the AMC).
Most private family physicians have less access to technology than do their urban colleagues. Some of them have an echograph, but rarely do they have even a small laboratory for medical analyses. Urban Practitioners
Private practices and hospitals are the main medical providers in urban areas. The main types of private health institution are medical practices for outpatient care and private hospitals for inpatient care. Private hospitals can be further differentiated by the nature of health services they are authorized to render: medical hospitals and surgical hospitals. Most medical practices offer generalist health care services. The most important among them, such as private hospitals, offer specialty services usually delivered by publicly employed specialists who go to the private hospital as outside specialists to deliver a specific service. This double activity is common among public doctors.