Out of Pocket Expenditure for Inhospital Pneumonia Care in Bangladesh

Childhood pneumonia is still the major killer of Bangladeshi children. This study aims to determine how much money a family has to bear for each episode of childhood hospitalization of pneumonia in two tertiary level paediatric hospitals in Dhaka. It was documented that household had to spend substantial amount of out of pocket money to get the basic care during hospitalization. 71% of the household had to borrow money as a coping strategy. The rural households borrowed more and paid more than the urban households for hospitalization. A trend was found that as the family becomes more economically solvent, the proportional burden due to healthcare expenditure relatively decreases. The study found that in both the facilities the percentage of male children were more than 75% which reflects the cultural negligence towards female children. This unaffordable financial burden can result in the 'distress sale' of property, delay or abandonment of treatment, sacrifice expenditures on food and education and thus the basic needs of the family members are compromised.