Assessment of available health services at subcentres as per Indian public health standards guidelines in a district of Jammu and Kashmir India: A cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: Subcentre is the lowest rung of a referral pyramid of health facilities. The purpose of health subcentre is mainly providing preventive and promotive services, but it also provides a basic level of curative services. OBJECTIVES: To assess the existing services availability at subcentres and identification of gaps between minimum requirements as per Indian public health standards and actual availability of services at subcentres. MATERIAL AND METHODS: It was a cross sectional observational study. Study units were subcentres. Fifty percent of subcentres of the district were selected using simple random sampling method. Check list prepared from Indian public health standards facility survey formats was used for data collection and collected data were analysed using statistical package for social sciences. RESULTS: Majority (58.8%) of the subcentres were catering a population in the range of 1000–3000. Ante-natal and child care related services were available in all subcentres. Intra-natal services were available in only two subcentres. Eighty five percent of subcentres were involved in providing school health related services. CONCLUSION: Most of the services as recommended by Indian public health standards were available in the studied subcentres. The lack of some services was mainly due to inadequate staff and infrastructure at subcentres. Comprehensive efforts are required to ensure adequate service delivery at all health centres.