Geographical Distribution of Healthcare Facilities in Poonch District: An Evaluationthrough GIS

The aim of this study is to depict the geographical distribution of Health Centers in the Poonch district using a GIS-based Health Information System. The study also focuses on the generating baseline information for the development, maintenance, and planning of these health centers. The GIS-based Health Information System was applied to collect data on health facilities in the study area. The collected data were categorized into various groups such as District Hospital, Community Health Centers, Primary Health Centre, and Sub Centers. The GIS database was then used to manage the collected data more efficiently. A total of 160 Health Centers were mapped in the Poonch district: 1 District Hospital, 3 Community Health Centers, 17 Primary Health Centers, and 139 are Sub Centers. The collected data include information such as the name, location, category, number of beds, number of doctors, population-doctor ratio, patients nurse ratio, patient-doctor ratio, doctor-nurse ratio, bed population ratio, institution-population ratio, doctor-institution ratio, and block-wise vaccination administered. The utilization of the GIS-based health information helped with the mapping of the geographical distribution of healthcare facilities and the collection of data concerning the management of healthcare facilities. This information is highly anticipated to aid in the programming of various developmental policies and work. The availability of baseline data can help in the efficient allocation of resources, identification of gaps in health services, and improved decision-making in the health sector. This study provides a useful framework for the use of GIS in the health sector, which can be replicated in other regions to improve the delivery of health services.