EFFECT OF PER CAPITA INCOME ON THE REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF PHYSICIANS: GROWTH CURVE MODEL

Aim: The economic basis of the imbalance of the regional distribution of physicians is the imbalance of per capita income among residential areas. As per capita income raises the demand for health services increases. On the other hand, doctors prefer high-income cities in order to generate more revenue. Turkey has a wide range of differences in inter-provincial income levels. In this study, the relationship between the distribution of doctors and per capita income in 70 cities between 1991 and 2000 in Turkey has been examined. Thus, it is aimed to point out the importance of the economic basis of the imbalance in the distribution of physicians.Method: The survey data of the Income Distribution by Provinces between 1991-2000 provided by Turkish Statistical Institute and the total number of specialists, GPs and total physicians in these provinces, gross domestic product per capita, and population data have been used. Multilevel regression analysis has been used in order to find out whether doctors prefer high-income cities, and how this preference changes as the income level changes, and whether this trend is higher among the specialists compared to the GPs.Results and Conclusion: There is a statistically significant positive relationship between domestic product per capita and the total number of specialists, GPs and total psychians per 10000 people. It is determined that doctors prefer the provinces where per capita income levels are high. A statistically significant difference is determined in the changes of the medium of the total number of specialists, GPs and total psychians per 10000 people and domestic product per capita in time. It is seen that as the provincial income levels per capita increase the number of physicians in the provinces also increase. This relationship is stronger among specialists compared to GPs. The importance of economic development in providing equality of the accessibility to health services is an obvious reality

Keywords:

Per capita income and the distribution of physicians, accessibility to health services and income level,

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