ABSTRACT
Family practice health centers are newly introduced primary health care facilities at Suez Canal University. A utilization study of health services was proposed to find out the proportion of the population who would utilize these centers. A cross sectional household interview survey was carried out in Ismailia Governorate. Socio-demographic, illness and services related factors were studied to find out their association with the utilization of either private or public health services. Out of 650 households where 3425 people were interviewed about their recent illness and contacts with formal health services, it was found that 1276 [37%] persons had utilized the formal health services in the 2 months prior to the interview. It was also found that 57.8% of the contacts have used the private while 42.2% have used the public health services. There was no significant difference in utilization pattern as regards residence or sex of the studied population. Those with higher socio-economic class and with more severe illness showed higher utilization of private health services. Services related factors were also important determinants in utilization pattern. Distance, low cost and insurance were significantly associated with public health services utilization while the availability of specialists, good treatment and communications, previous experience, good reputation and cleanliness were among the factors which were significantly associated with private services utilization. It is concluded that the provision of high quality health services at a reasonable cost is preferred to free of charge services with low cost