Analysing the expenditure on childbearing: a community-based cross-sectional study in rural areas of Punjab (India)

BACKGROUND: A vast array of literature has established that high maternity expenditure precludes women from accessing health services. Further, this maternity expenditure takes catastrophic form, forcing individuals or households to significantly lower their standard of living now or at some time in future. The present study analyses expenditure on childbearing in rural areas of one of the richest and top performer states on health parameters in India, namely Punjab along with examining the determinants of catastrophic expenditure. It also attempts to examine the implementation of Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) which entitles pregnant women to free maternity services in public health facilities. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in rural areas of Punjab involving 420 recently delivered women, who were questioned about their socio-economic attributes and expenditure incurred in the process of childbearing using face to face, semi-structured interviews. Employing logistic regression, an attempt has been made to understand the determinants of catastrophic maternity expenditure, i.e., expenditure exceeding 10% of annual household income. RESULTS: Of the 420 respondents surveyed, 96.7% reported bearing expenditure on childbearing, irrespective of the type of health facility used and 25% respondents spent catastrophically. On an average, respondents have spent US$62.87 on antenatal care, US$112.86 on delivery and US$6.55 on postnatal care. The results of multivariable analysis reveal that respondents belonging to general category (non reserve category), lower wealth quintiles and using private health facilities have higher odds of incurring catastrophic expenditure. At the same time, poor quality of care at government hospitals and inability of public health staff to provide timely treatment are the driving forces for utilizing private health facilities. Even in the presence of free maternity scheme at government hospitals, respondents on an average spent US$55.22 on availing maternity services. CONCLUSION: The study shows that risk of bearing catastrophic expenditure and being pushed down to abject poverty is higher for respondents who are already at the bottom of wealth quintiles. The policy imperative has to swing towards upgrading the creaky health infrastructure and addressing the issues of poor accountability and corruption at government hospitals, along with thwarting unregulated expansion of private health sector. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-021-06075-2.