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International Journal for Equity in Health
Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research

Inequalities in the geographic distribution of hospital beds and doctors in traditional Chinese medicine from 2004 to 2014

Authors: Liming Lu, Jingchun Zeng

Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Objectives

This study identifies inequities in the provincial-level geographical distribution of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) hospital beds and doctors in China from 2004 to 2014. This provides policy implications of the optimal allocation of TCM health care resources.

Methods

Our study used province level data on TCM hospital beds and doctors from 2004 to 2014. These data were obtained from the China TCM Yearbook 2004–2014 and the China Statistical Yearbook 2004–2014.Global and local spatial autocorrelation was performed by using Moran’s index and the local Moran’s index to describe the spatial distribution of TCM hospital beds (doctors) as well as their density. A Gini coefficient was used to estimate inequalities in the geographic distribution of TCM hospital beds (doctors) based on their density. Correlations of the Gini coefficients between TCM hospital beds and doctors were calculated by Pearson correlation analysis.

Results

All indicators of TCM hospital beds and doctor density have increased over the past 11 years. The number of TCM hospital beds per 10,000 populations increased the fastest. Geographical clustering was not obvious in the density distribution of TCM hospital beds or doctors, as no significant spatial autocorrelation was found. Gini coefficients showed that from 2004 to 2014 the distribution of TCM hospital beds per 10,000 population and doctors per 10,000 populations were equitable between different regions. A large gap existed in the distribution inequality of TCM hospital beds (doctors) per square kilometer among different regions.

Conclusion

Targeted health policy with equitable distribution of TCM hospital beds (doctors) per square kilometer and the balance and coordination of related resources should be a priority in shaping China’s healthcare system reform.
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Metadata
Title
Inequalities in the geographic distribution of hospital beds and doctors in traditional Chinese medicine from 2004 to 2014
Authors
Liming Lu
Jingchun Zeng
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
International Journal for Equity in Health / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1475-9276
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-018-0882-1

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