A new study shows those that live in a wealthy neighborhood are more likely to have access to quality surgical care than those that live in low income regions.
“I don’t know if I am accident prone or if I just am prone to sickness but I have had four surgeries in my life,” Bianca Lilly said. This 30 year old secretary from the Bronx says two surgeries were health related and two were cosmetic.
The study found the wealthiest third of the global population undergoes 75% of the estimated 234 million surgical procedures done each year, the poorest third just 4%.
“I think so many of us take health care for granted,” Lilly said. “So many people can’t just drive to the doctors down the road to get a problem checked out.”
“Our findings suggest that high-income regions have more than 10 times the number of operating theatres per person than low-income regions,” said Luke Funk, research fellow in HSPH’s Department of Health Policy and Management and a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Addressing this disparity will be a huge challenge, but global public health efforts have had a profound impact on other major sources of morbidity including malnutrition, infectious diseases, and maternal and child health. The same could be accomplished for surgical care.”
Researchers say this information is critical in understanding the need for better access to medical care.
“It is not news that the poor have worse access to hospital services like surgery. But the size of this population is a shock,” senior author Atul Gawande said. “Our findings indicate that one third of the world’s population remains effectively without access to essential surgical services–services such as emergency cesarean section and treatment for serious road traffic injuries. Surgery has been a neglected component of public health planning and this clearly needs to change.”
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