Assessment of out-of-pocket and catastrophic expenses incurred by patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in availing free antiretroviral therapy services in India.

OBJECTIVES: With the free availability of antiretroviral therapy in India, one expects that the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure would reduce and would not be a significant financial burden. However, the cost of seeking care is also dependent on accessibility of services, as well as other non-medical and indirect expenses. This study aims to analyze the OOP expenditure in availing antiretroviral therapy (ART) services and determine the prevalence and pattern of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditure. The study also discusses the policy implications of these findings in the light of growing commitment toward universal health coverage. STUDY DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study. METHODS: A total of 434 patients receiving antiretroviral treatment were interviewed. OOP expenses included a measure of direct medical expenditure, non-medical expenditure, and indirect expenditure incurred in availing ART services. A threshold level of 40% of 'capacity to pay' was taken as catastrophic expenditure. Based on previous research, different demographic, socio-economic, and clinical factors were selected as independent variables to determine their association with catastrophic expenditure. Logistic regression was conducted to study the association between independent and dependent variables keeping the level of significance at <0.05. RESULTS: The mean OOP expenditure among patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) taking ART was Rs. 238.8 ± 193.7. Majority of these expenses were incurred on non-medical expenditure (58.1%), while indirect expenditure accounted for 29.7%. The direct health expenditure was the lowest (12.2%) type of expenditure in the total OOP expenditure. OOP spending was catastrophic in 8.1% (35/434) of households in our study. Patients belonging to nuclear family (odds ratio [OR] = 2.99; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19-7.58), who are unemployed (OR = 2.56; 95% CI = 1.18-5.54), of lower socio-economic classes (OR = 8.46; 95% CI = 1.93-37.02), those who traveled more than 50 km for getting drugs (OR = 2.80; 95% CI = 1.26-6.23), and those having CD4 cell count lower than 200 (OR = 3.11; 95% CI = 1.32-7.32) were found to be independently and significantly associated with catastrophic OOP health expenditure among patients with HIV. CONCLUSIONS: A high direct and indirect expenditure was observed among patients with HIV seeking treatment in North India leading to catastrophic expenditure in a significant number of households. A service-level integration of HIV care at subdistrict levels within the Universal health coverage (UHC) framework could reduce catastrophic expenditure.

Meconium aspiration in neonates: combined obstetric and paediatric intervention improves outcome.

All meconium aspiration syndrome cases admitted in the two neonatal units were compared to evaluate the antenatal and natal events including resuscitative measures and outcome of neonates and to confirm the beneficial effects of immediate combined obstetric and paediatric intervention on morbidity and mortality. Neonates managed in nursery at Mayo Hospital (Group 1, n = 44) were delivered at other hospitals and birth centres, underwent resuscitation by obstetricians and/or anaesthetists and then referred. Neonates admitted in the neonatal unit of Lady Willingdon Hospital (Group 2, n = 48) were inborn and resuscitated by paediatric residents. Both groups were comparable for weight, sex, booked status, maturity, history of prolonged labour, fetal distress and Apgar score at 5 minutes. Significant differences were proportion of C-section (62% in Gp 2 v 34% in Gp1), laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation (100% in Gp 2 v 9% in Gp1), time of arrival in the nursery (mean 0.14 hr in Gp 2 v 3.91 hr in Gp 1), persistent cyanosis (43% in Gp 2 v 68% in Gp1), earlier start of feeding (mean 2.4 days in Gp 2 v 3.2 days in group 1) and shorter stay in hospital (2.87 days in Gp 2 v 5 days in Gp 1). 27% cases died in group 2 compared to 47% in group 1 (pvalue = 0.04). Combined immediate obstetric intervention (C-section) and paediatric intervention (laryngoscopy, tracheal intubation, suction, immediate transfer to nursery) led to reduced severity of meconium aspiration syndrome and lower mortality.