Technical Efficiency of Public Primary Health Care Facilities in Mombasa County.

Abstract

Primary health care facilities offer essential health and wellness services to a significant percentage of the population in Kenya. Evidence based planning and management of available resources in these facilities remains critical for optimization of health care outcomes. This research hence aimed at measuring technical efficiency of Health centers and Dispensary in Mombasa County using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Data was obtained from the County health records and District Health Information System (DHIS2) for the year 2019. 18 primary health facilities were evaluated. Output variables were; outpatient visits, deliveries, antenatal visits and postnatal visits while inputs considered were; number of staff and funds received. The result reveals that dispensaries had an average constant return to scale (CRS) efficiency of 88% with the least efficient dispensary scoring 48%. The average variable return to scale of the dispensaries was 96%, while the least efficient scored 72%. Scale efficiency of the facilities ranged from 56% to 100% with an average score of 91%. Health centers on the other had had an average CRS of 97% and VRS score of 99%. Their scale efficiency ranged from 92% to 100%, with an average score of 98%. The study recommends reallocation of resources and expansion of service output through creation of service demand for the inefficient facilities.