study of physician manpower at maternal and child health centres in Alexandria

ABSTRACT

The present study provided a situational analysis of physician manpower at all 11 MCH centers in Alexandria during 1984. It revealed the presence of a surplus of physicians, the average number employed being 102.9 physicians while the estimated number required to meet the current workload was only 33 physicians. Furthermore, physicians were unevenly distributed among the different centers, the average number employed ranging between 2.1 and 19.6 physicians. Junior physicians recruited for obligatory service constituted the greater proportion of the total and average number of employed physicians, and accounted for the greater proportion of maldistribution. As a consequence of overstaffing, productivity, which was measured in terms of visits per physician man-hour, was found to be very low. Turn over was found to be excessive, particularly among junior physicians