This study highlights the critical role of Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) in improving equitable healthcare access for rural and underprivileged communities. The research shows that replicability, scalability, and affordability significantly boost immunization performance, with replicability having the most impact.
Authors
Jignesh Patel, Jivika Healthcare Private Limited, Maharashtra, Pune, India
Sangita More, Jivika Healthcare Private Limited, Maharashtra, Pune, India
Pravin Sohani, Jivika Healthcare Private Limited, Maharashtra, Pune, India
Shrinath Bedarkar, Jivika Healthcare Private Limited, Maharashtra, Pune, India
Kamala Kannan Dinesh, Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India
Deepika Sharma, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
Sanjay Dhir, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
Sushil Sushil, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India
Gunjan Taneja, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, New Delhi, India
Raj Shankar Ghosh, Public Health Consultant, New Delhi, India
Summary
Equitable access to healthcare for rural, tribal, and underprivileged people has been an emerging area of interest for researchers, academicians, and policymakers worldwide. Improving equitable access to healthcare requires innovative interventions. This calls for clarifying which operational model of a service innovation needs to be strengthened to achieve transformative change and bring sustainability to public health interventions. The current study aimed to identify the components of an operational model of mobile medical units (MMUs) as an innovative intervention to provide equitable access to healthcare.
Methods
The study empirically examined the impact of scalability, affordability, replicability (SAR), and immunization performance on the sustainability of MMUs to develop a framework for primary healthcare in the future. Data were collected via a survey answered by 207 healthcare professionals from six states in India. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted to empirically determine the interrelationships among various constructs.
Results
The standardized path coefficients revealed that three factors (SAR) significantly influenced immunization performance as independent variables. Comparing the three hypothesized relationships demonstrates that replicability has the most substantial impact, followed by scalability and affordability. Immunization performance was found to have a significant direct effect on sustainability. For evaluating sustainability, MMUs constitute an essential component and an enabler of a sustainable healthcare system and universal health coverage.
Conclusion
This study equips policymakers and public health professionals with the critical components of the MMU operational model leading toward sustainability. The research framework provides reliable grounds for examining the impact of scalability, affordability, and replicability on immunization coverage as the primary public healthcare outcome.
Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health
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