The study of unit cost and quality of education of Ghazanfar Institute of Heatlh Science (GIHS) and private institutes in Kabul province from 2009 to 2012

Abstract

This study is a descriptive type of research that contains two parts, a calculation of the unit cost or cost per graduate student and an assessment of the quality of education of nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, technology, physiotherapy, radiology, dentistry and anesthesia disciplines in GIHS and 5 private institutes of health science in Kabul province. The average cost calculation in GIHS is done from the provider perspective including donor support for GIHS and accommodation, while the average unit cost in private institutes is calculated from the purchaser perspective. The study finds the average unit cost of nursing to be equal to US$ 4,231, midwifery US$ 6,404, pharmacy US$ 6,796, technology US$ 5,705, physiotherapy US$ 5,329, radiology US$ 6,106, dentistry US$8,015, and anesthesia US$ 1,074 for the whole period of the study in GIHS while this average cost amounts US$ 1,590 for nursing, US$ 1,409 for midwifery, US$ 1,425 for pharmacy, US$ 1,216 for technology, and US$ 1,216 for dentistry in private institutes from the purchaser perspective for the whole period of the study. When excluding the accommodation cost of GIHS, the unit cost of nursing decreased to US$ 1,816, midwifery to US$ 4,852, pharmacy to US$ 2,809, technology to US$ 3,505, physiotherapy to US$ 4,308, radiology to US$ 3,379, dentistry to US$2,948 and anesthesia to US$ 1,133. The study shows that the unit cost in GIHS is at least twice as much the unit cost in private institutes in some disciplines, which is mainly due to the high cost of accommodation, donations and the low output of disciplines in terms of number of graduate students. In terms of quality of education, however, the findings show that the quality of education is perceived to be better in GIHS, especially in terms of practical work due to the availability of public facilities to GIHS, according to the in-depth interviews with officials from MoPH and lecturers from GIHS and private institutes. The student survey on the other hand interestingly indicates that the quality of education is better in private institutes than GIHS. In general the study findings reveal that GIHS cost needs to be decreased or output per discipline increased and that the quality of practical work in private institutes needs to be improved.