THE ROLE OF PUNJAB RURAL SUPPORT PROGRAMME IN PROVIDING HEALTH FACILITIES TO RURAL WOMEN;

A CASE STUDY OF DISTRICT FAISALABAD

Abstract

Despite the fact that women account for more than half of the total world
population, they are still not considered equal to men. The health of rural women in Pakistan
is very poor because of the lack of health services and competent health workers. Besides
government health centres, hospitals and many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
are also working in the rural areas for providing social services to rural women. Punjab Rural
Support Programme is also working for socio-economic empowerment of rural women. PRSP
began to provide health facilities to the poor people in villages through Basic Health Units
(BHUs). Objectives: To analyze the role of PRSP in providing health facilities to women in rural
area. Design: A multistage simple random sampling technique was used for the study. Setting:
District Faisalabad. Material & Methods: The population for the study consisted of rural women
only who were members of the Community Organizations (COs) of PRSP. Out of the eight towns
of district Faisalabad, four towns which cover rural areas (Samundri, Iqbal town, Jaranwala,
and Chak Jhumra) were selected. Four field units of PRSP are working in these four towns i.e.
Salarwala in Chak Jhumra, Satiana in Jaranwala, Khidarwala in Samundri, and Dijkot in Iqbal
Town. These field units had 214, 203, 170 and 238 female COs, respectively. A sample of 10%
COs was selected from each field unit randomly. Thus the total selected COs were 82. Five
members from each CO were selected at random. In this way the total sample size for the study
was 410 respondents. A reliable and validated data collection instrument consisting of open
and close ended questions was used. The data were analyzed using SPSS. It was concluded
that respondents were satisfied with certain facilities like availability of female doctors in BHUs,
availability of medicines and availability of competent and qualified paramedics. Provision of
basic tests (blood, sugar, pregnancy and haemoglobin etc.) was very weak area which needed
much improvement. Conclusions: It was also concluded that respondents were satisfied with
the behaviour of staff at BHUs. However, provision of basic medical equipment needed attention
from the authorities.