Essay Example on Urban vs. Rural: A Tale of Two Healthcare Systems

Health care disparity in rural versus urban centers describes the colossal difference that exists in terms of access to, use of and quality of medical care along with other relevant medical services such as health insurance coverage between individuals living in rural areas in contrast to those living in the urban centers (Larson & Fleishman, 2013). There is a vast difference between the kind of healthcare system that exists in the rural areas as compared to that that exists in the urban centres. The urban centres are usually more advanced; conversely, most of the medical centres, especially ones that are specialised are located in the urban areas for better coverage. What this means is that since urban centres have a lot of people, it makes sense to bring in the specialised equipment in the urban areas where the majority of the people there can get access to them.

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It is also more profitable from an economic perspective to launch these pieces of equipment in urban centres concerning rural areas (Larson & Fleishman, 2013). This is an enormous challenge because most of the people in need of medical services in rural areas would have to journey vast distances to access specialised medical assistance. It can be argued that specialised equipment, for instance, MRI machines are quite expensive and having them in every clinic would be rather infeasible, but a compromise has to be achieved (Leira et al., 2012). A settlement will come to provide people with better healthcare in effect addressing the disparity while at the same time being economically feasible. The variables that come into play here include the cost of the equipment, the personnel to handle the equipment, the prevalence of a given condition to determine what to stock in a given area and finally, the coverage of the health facility. For instance, the prevalence of cancer is over 1.5 million people every year, with over six hundred thousand individual losing their lives to it (Hebert, Sisk & Howell, 2012). Thus, being able to screen and detect cancer in its early stages can significantly reduce the number of deaths every year. Due to lack of proper equipment, an individual can be misdiagnosed ergo, what would have been an early detection of the disease morphs to a desperate attempt with a probably catastrophic ending.

Also, most of the people in the urban centres are well educated and thus, make better medical choices such as having regular checkups and having insurance coverage. An insurance cover is requisite when one has a job, especially in the urban centres where accidents may happen at any time and also because it is a requirement by the government. In rural areas, however. Where the people usually rely on their farms and where the jobs may not be regular, having an insurance policy on one's health is not often a policy (Hebert, Sisk & Howell, 2012). This is so because, there exists a mentality, whereby people feel that they have to be checked out when they feel that they have been overwhelmed by the disease. This ill-held and customary doctrine is cancerous to the growth of the people and the economy. This is an important issue as the more manpower the nation loses, the more crippled it becomes; as labour is lost to the deaths of the individuals when a late diagnosis is made and to add salt to the injury, medical manpower is wasted that should have been employed in the prevention and handling of the disease in its early onset. In addition, more money is spent on curing a disease in its later stages than when it is discovered early. Also, this increased laxity is a major contributor to the fact that all beds are usually full in most of the hospitals, which is more of an issue in the rural areas as opposed to the urban centres.

It is also imperative to comprehend that when a nation is healthy, the workforce of the nation is not affected, and the economy of the country flourishes (Hebert, Sisk & Howell, 2012). The rural areas are as important as the urban centres as most of the raw materials, and agricultural workforce dwells in these areas. In addition, mortality rates in rural areas due to misdiagnosis or late diagnosis of a disease is also more prevalent compared to urban centres (Weeks et al., 2013). Therefore, measures must be put in place to ensure that these issues are addressed for this group that is an integral part of the society.

Solution Proposition

In each town, there are various hospitals and clinics; one should be chosen to be a centre for referrals, cancer screening and a free consultation on given dates. Campaigns should also be organised regularly employing natives who know their way around the villages and have relevant education. This mission will be to inform the people of the advantages of getting checked out and busting the local myths about health care. The main aim will be encouraging the culture of getting the people to get medical checkups regularly. This should encourage people to get more checkups regularly and hopefully in this process will be able to intercept diseases very early before they can fully manifest to the point of no return. To ensure that the plan is well in order, its effectiveness has to be put to the test. Therefore, before the implementation of the solution, the statistics have to be taken on the number of deaths as a result of health-related phenomena as opposed to natural causes. This statistic will then be compared with yet another statistic that will be taken six months after the pilot program has been successfully implemented. This statistic will be aimed at showing the effectiveness of the approach and inform the decision of whether the underlying policies should be changed to yield better results.

The main reason why the campaign is important is that people usually die out of ignorance and extensively employ myths, misconceptions and cognitive dissonance to elevate their delusions to the stats of reality. Thus, targeted campaigns using native experts that can interpret reality in terms that they understand and convince them to get regular checkups would be a great start in busting myths. Over time, various support and morale groups will be formed to ensure that the people stay motivated to go for regular checkups. In addition, occasional seminars and conferences at the town hall should be arranged to come and teach the people about the various diseases that they can be potentially exposed to in their farms or maybe in the mines. The discussions can be explorative; aiming at ensuring that the people understand the magnitude of the disease if left to manifest to its full potential. The people should also be advised that some diseases usually have an incubation period, a symptomless stage of the disease after which infection sets in, the disease is inert and is most vulnerable. The people must understand that striking the disease when it is most susceptible increases the odds of survival.

Solution Implementation and Evaluation

The action of having more medical personnel and equipment brought nearer to the rural homes is a rather pricy indulgence and may require legislative action to be actualised, and this may consume a lot of time. On the other hand, one might suggest that each township usually has a large enough hospital, and before any more equipment and personnel are brought in, one can make do with whatever that exists. For instance, in every rural area, obviously, there is a hospital that is easily accessible to the majority of the folk living in the area. A free consultation can be done twice or thrice in a week. Various non-governmental organisations specialise in providing public awareness and also free medical checkups such as cancer screening and dental checkup. These NGO's usually hire their doctors and usually have their document. The service of free consultations can be divided across various medical centres to avoid large flooding crowds at a specific hospital during the free consultation and checkup day. It has been observed that more people living in urban centres have medical insurances than people living in rural areas. Almost every individual in the urban centre has medical insurance; this is mostly because a prerequisite to employment is the requirement that one has medical insurance. Thus, every employed individual usually has basic medical insurance. Some insurance covers also take care of medical checkups done at preset periods. Most people in urban centres usually do not possess medical insurance because some may not be aware of it or may not understand the importance of having one. There exists the fallacious mentality that one should only visit the hospital when one has been overwhelmed by the sickness.

The people living in urban centres are better because one might have a medical plan that has mandated checkups, and the attending physician can access the medical history of the patient at any given moment. This makes it easy to spot disease before it becomes predominant such that it becomes difficult to get rid of. There are myriads of myths and misconceptions surrounding some critical issues in the rural areas, more so in the area of family planning, such as using contraception to control childbirth. Conspiracy theories have also sprung up, claiming that it is a way that the government controls the population by making people sterile. These claims are usually taken more seriously in the rural areas. This factor compounded with religious conservatism makes these individuals impenetrable with logic and reason. Thus, the process of indoctrination is not going to be easy and requires persistence but is a requirement to achieve a healthier nation.

The pilot program will include liaising with the town's local government to procure a venue and the local NGO that deals with the related matter to organise conferences that are aimed at busting myths and misconceptions, encourage people to get early treatments and also get medical insurance covers for themselves. To be more explicit and that people do not get bored, during the talks, a PowerPoint presentation can be shown that is meant to complement what the speaker will be saying to provide further clarity. Before the meeting, the resident NGO's can be invaluable in proving relevant information such as the reason why the individuals do not take medical insurances and the common myths and misconceptions that are held in the area of visit. This information will help in launching a more targeted attack to bust these myths and misconceptions and bring to light the facts.

It can be said that even though rural areas are usually the most afflicted with more inferior medical care as opposed to urban centres, not all people living in the rural areas share this affliction, It is shown that most of the well-educated people that happen to be living in the rural areas usually have medical insurance and usually go for regular checkups as they know better not to indulge themselves in the local misconceptions. The target group is often the farmers and the less educated folk, but important members of the community. It is these people that are the major target of the program. The hospitals are usually, and indeed they have a fair share of their problems, but the numbers can be reduced by having regular checkups and obtaining an insurance cover.

Comparisons of the afore-mentioned statistics will be made in a bid to determine the progress made. The progress will be determined at an interval; of every six months to ensure that the proposed solution lives up to the expectations. If the payoff is less than 20% within a year, then the strategy has to be re-thought, and an investigation launched to inform the process.

Conclusion

It would be unwise to turn a blind eye on the matter about the healthcare disparity between the rural areas and the urban centres. This is because the rural...