Impact of Clustering of Healthcare Facilities: A Case of Jalandhar City

Abstract

Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to study and analyze the impacts of clustering of a certain type of facility i.e. presence of excessive number of a particular type of amenity in a city.

Design/ Method/ Approach- The study is dealt and analyzed through various sampling and survey techniques. An adequate sample has been selected from the large set of hospitals of Jalandhar with the help of stratified random sampling technique. The field surveys pertaining to selected set of hospitals has been conducted to figure out the ground level scenario supported by interviews of residents around the hospitals.

Findings- Clustering of facilities results into many problems for the residents such as mis-management of bio-medical waste, illegal parking, traffic congestion, traffic bottlenecks, deterioration of urban image of the city, emergence of informal markets, increase in pollution levels, increase in land value and losses to civic bodies.

Practical implications-The impacts caused by excessive number of healthcare facilities in the city leads to disturbance for the residents and deteriorate their quality of living.