COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR HEALTH EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN: PARENTS PERSPECTIVE.

Objective: Objective of the present study was to identify the perceptions of parents about performance of public and private sector health education institutes and parameters of their preference while choosing a medical or dental college for their children. Methods: It was a qualitative study by design and parents of FSc and A-Level students were selected for semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was done for inclusion of participants and grounded theory approach was used for data collection and analysis. Constant comparative method was used for thematic content analysis. Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software NVIVO was used for data management and analysis. Results: Four major themes including, affordability, college standard, academic excellence and patient exposure emerged from the data. Parents generally perceived private medical colleges low in performance and less trust worthy as compared to public sector health education institutes. Conclusion: Majority of parents perceived Government medical and dental colleges as their first option because of low fees, strong infrastructure, more competition and patient exposure, low faculty turnover rate and more confidence in institute recognition. While private colleges were low on their priority list.