Table 2.
Distribution of common patients’ reasons for encounter
| Overall | Public clinics | Private clinics | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasons for encounter (RFEs) | n | Percentage | n | Percentage | n | Percentage | P-value* |
| Symptom | 11,297 | 69.5 | 606 | 41.3 | 10,691 | 72.3 | 0.0004 |
| Fever | 1941 | 11.9 | 97 | 6.6 | 1844 | 12.5 | 0.0192 |
| Cough | 1869 | 11.5 | 122 | 8.3 | 1747 | 11.8 | 0.1563 |
| Abdominal pain | 896 | 5.5 | 36 | 2.4 | 860 | 5.8 | 0.0066 |
| Musculoskeletal symptoms | 524 | 3.2 | 67 | 4.6 | 457 | 3.1 | 0.3262 |
| Back problems | 412 | 2.5 | - | - | 412 | 2.8 | - |
| Follow-up | 1209 | 7.4 | 300 | 20.4 | 909 | 6.1 | 0.0010 |
| Hypertension | 297 | 1.8 | 77 | 5.3 | 220 | 1.5 | 0.0070 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 251 | 1.5 | 76 | 5.2 | 175 | 1.2 | 0.0061 |
| Asthma | 128 | 0.8 | 6 | 0.4 | 122 | 0.8 | 0.4919 |
| Lipid disorder | 73 | 0.4 | 36 | 2.4 | 37 | 0.2 | 0.0069 |
| Osteoarthritis | 65 | 0.4 | - | - | 65 | 0.4 | - |
| Procedure/administrative | 3744 | 23.0 | 562 | 38.3 | 3182 | 21.5 | 0.0416 |
| General medical examination | 1262 | 7.8 | 23 | 1.6 | 1239 | 8.4 | 0.0020 |
| Diagnostic radiology/imaging | 908 | 5.6 | 51 | 3.5 | 858 | 5.8 | 0.3871 |
| Antenatal check-up | 670 | 4.1 | 426 | 29.0 | 244 | 1.7 | <0.0001 |
| Blood test/investigation | 311 | 1.9 | 21 | 1.4 | 290 | 2.0 | 0.6979 |
| Dressing | 276 | 1.7 | 24 | 1.7 | 252 | 1.7 | 0.9651 |
| Total RFEs | 16,250 | 100 | 1468 | 100 | 14,782 | 100 | |
Note: General medical examination - include routine medical check-up, pre-employment & pre-university check-up
*Chi-square test for differences between public and private clinics, P-value < 0.05 considered as significant