Factors Determining the Choice of Health Care of Textile and Engineering Industrial Workers in Coimbatore

Industrial workers constitute only a segment of general population and the factors that influence the health of the population also apply equally to industrial workers. The present study would bring out the availability and adequacy of health facilities in the urban Coimbatore. Therefore, the study of the people's perception of health care services would indicate the line of improvement to be made in the health care services in future. Coimbatore is one of the most industrially developed Districts in Tamil Nadu and has the pride of being called the “Manchester of South India”. The data collected from both the textile and engineering industries in Coimbatore city was 1447 employees. It is found that workers who have been born and brought up in urban areas have shown higher tendency to avail private health care services (81%) than those workers whose nativity status is rural areas. Obviously, the reverse pattern is noticed among the sample workers in the case of government health services. The chi-square results between the nativity status and workers‟ choice of health care services is found to be highly significant (p<0.001). It is interesting to note that when it comes to health, patients are psychologically ready to pay any amount. They never tend to be treated in low cost hospitals but prefer hospitals where good treatment and quality services are available. The findings show that the quality of health care services playing a vital role in choosing the type of health facilities by the workers.