التوزيع الجغرافي للخدمات الصحية بمنطقة مكة المكرمة

Abstract EN

Health care services distribution has been a predominant subject in the medical geography literature.

Such research has focused mainly on the distribution of services, with reference to population distribution and their needs The objective of the present research is to study health care se^ices distribution in the province of Makkah, based on data provided by the health affa؛rs directorates of Makkah and the province governance.

The study has simply calculated the location quotients of government and private health care services among different spatial units, (Muhafadhat), of the province.

In addition, the research has also investigated some other distributional indicators, such as population/facility ratios.

The main findings illustrate cle^ tendency towards maldistribution of health care seivices in general, in favor of muhafadhat with larger urban areas, such as Jeddah, Makkah and Taif.

However, governmental facilities distribution is relatively more dispersed in comparison with the distribution of private services, which largely concentrates on Jeddah.

As a result, we can conclude that a form of an Inverse Care Law is present in the distribution of health care se^ices in the province of Makkah.

Therefore, the present distribution has to be reformed.

Furthermore, there is a need for more rigorous research, which includes the impact of more variables on the optimal distribution of heath care services in the province of Makkah.

Such variables may include, among many others, the condition of transportation roads, and the distance to the nearest health care services.