Challenges Facing Older People in Accessing Free Health Care Services in Public Hospitals.

The study sought to examine challenges facing older people in accessing health care services in public hospitals. The objectives of the study included; i) To examine the ability of older people living in Dar es salaam in accessing health care services in public hospitals, ii) To find out challenges and constraints limiting older people from accessing free health care services iii) To assess measures employed by public hospital management for easing health services to older people and propose the way forward. The study employed a case study design and a sample of 80 respondents involving older people, social workers, doctors and nurses were involved. In terms of sampling procedure, purposive and snowball were used. Purposive sampling was adopted to select nurses, social workers and older people who visited public hospitals while snowball was used to get older people living in streets. Data from questionnaire and interviews was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis, while quantitative data were extracted, classified and computed using SPSS into frequencies and percentages, and presented in tables and charts. The study revealed that, 58% of older people do not have ability to access free health care services in public hospitals. Moreover, study findings indicated that 57% of the older people do not use public hospitals when they become sick. Again, findings showed that, majority (85%) of respondent revealed that lack of essential medicine in public hospitals was their major challenge. Therefore, the study suggested strong measures to be taken in order to rectify and improve the situation. Among these included reviewing older peoples’ policy and suggested introduction of comprehensive health insurance scheme for older people