Kochuvilayil Arsha, Sankar Hari, Joseph Jaison, Nair Arun B, Nambiar Devaki
Health Systems Research India Initiative, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
The George Institute for Global Health, Delhi, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2024 Sep;13(9):3564-3570. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1607_23. Epub 2024 Sep 11.
Legislative assemblies often provide a platform for legislators to question the government during question hours, which are crucial for governance However, question hours remain understudied, especially when addressing health policy and systems related issues in lower- and middle-income countries. This study assesses the 14 Kerala Legislative Assembly questions, focusing on health-related areas to provide insights for health policy formulation and decision-making processes.
We sourced and transcribed all starred questions (346) related to health that were answered by the health minister in the 14 Legislative Assembly between 2016 and 2021 from the archives of the assembly website. We conducted a thematic analysis of these questions and mapped them into various themes, guided by the World Health Organization building blocks framework.
About 7.8% of all questions ( = 4404) were related to health ( = 346). Of these questions, the majority were directly related to service delivery (43.4%), followed by health information (16.5%). Health financing, food safety, and human resources were the least discussed topics throughout the assessed period within the state. The legislators primarily focussed on health services and health information, with less attention given to health financing, food safety, and human resources regardless of constituency or political affiliation.
This study underscores the need for a balanced approach to public health issues, highlighting the importance of legislators to priortizing health services and information, while also addressing health financing, food safety, and human resources. This would enable a robust and resilient public health system to effectively address diverse health concerns.
立法议会通常为立法者提供一个在质询时间向政府提问的平台，这对治理至关重要。然而，质询时间仍未得到充分研究，尤其是在解决低收入和中等收入国家与卫生政策和系统相关的问题时。本研究评估了喀拉拉邦立法议会的14个问题，重点关注与健康相关的领域，为卫生政策制定和决策过程提供见解。
我们从议会网站档案中获取并转录了2016年至2021年期间在14届立法议会中由卫生部长回答的所有与健康相关的带星号问题（346个）。我们对这些问题进行了主题分析，并在世界卫生组织的构建模块框架指导下将它们映射到不同主题。
所有问题（n = 4404）中约7.8%与健康相关（n = 346）。在这些问题中，大多数与服务提供直接相关（43.4%），其次是健康信息（16.5%）。在评估期间，该邦内卫生筹资、食品安全和人力资源是讨论最少的主题。无论选区或政治派别如何，立法者主要关注卫生服务和健康信息，而对卫生筹资、食品安全和人力资源关注较少。
本研究强调了对公共卫生问题采取平衡方法的必要性，突出了立法者优先考虑卫生服务和信息的重要性，同时也解决卫生筹资、食品安全和人力资源问题。这将使一个强大且有韧性的公共卫生系统能够有效应对各种健康问题。
