In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the attitudes of patients towards the public healthcare system in the Kolkata Metropolitan area. The research findings suggest that poor and middle class families of the state generally avail the public healthcare facilities, due to high cost in private hospitals. The behaviour of doctors and nurses are generally cordial in the hospital and prescribed medicines are available from the hospital pharmacies. In public hospitals, nepotism and favouritism are very common. It is a very common practice in this metropolitan city, that, to get admission for treatment in the hospital, one needs a doctor’s recommendation, political link or third party’s help. The management authority is serious enough to bring about good administration and wants to keep the hospital neat and clean.
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