Women with visual impairments in rural areas face unique challenges in accessing healthcare services. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the availability and accessibility of healthcare services among visually impaired women in selected rural districts of Tamil Nadu. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted using snowball sampling and recruited 333 visually impaired women aged 18–44 in two districts of Tamil Nadu. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on demographics, maternal and reproductive health services, quality of healthcare, transportation, distance to hospital, participant experiences, accessibility, inclusiveness, medical personnel, and hospital facilities. Data were entered and analysed using a Microsoft Office database. Among the 333 visually impaired women, average age 36.09 ± 5.97 years, found that most had access to government hospitals (77%) and were satisfied with government schemes related to reproductive health (81%). However, only 47% had utilized reproductive health services. Most received prenatal and antenatal care services (87%) and reported adequate delivery-related infrastructure (93%). Satisfaction with medications was high (92%). Public healthcare was rated good by 68.2% of respondents, while private healthcare was rated good by 56.5%. Appointments were easy to get, and transportation to hospitals was mainly by bus. Positive perceptions of well-equipped hospitals were reported (90%). The study found that maternal and child healthcare services are accessible and satisfactory for visually impaired women. However, there is a need to improve inclusivity, raise awareness, and implement supportive policies for this group and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Srinivasan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.