An Empirical Analysis of Demand for Health Care Facilities Using PSLM Data in Pakistan

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate empirically the socio-economic
and demographic determinants of the demand for health care facilities
in Pakistan. The study used cross sectional data available in Pakistan
Social and Living Standard Measurement Survey (PSLM, 2015-16) and
Household Integrated Income and Consumption Survey (HIICS, 2015-
16).An ordinary least squares method was used to estimate multiple
regression model. The study found that household income, education of
the household head, age of the of the household head, and household
size were the significant determinants of the demand for health care
services in Pakistan. In addition, the study also found that rural
households spent more on health care than urban households.
Diagnostic tests including tolerance and VIF showed that the estimated
model had no issue of multicollinearity. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and
Shapiro-Wilk tests implied the data followed normality. Similarly,
Breusch-Pagan and Koenker tests confirmed that heteroscedasticitywas
not a problem. The study concluded that household income, education
and household size are the most important variables affecting the
health care demand. The study recommended that efforts are needed to
enhance household income and education that may lead to better
health facilities.