Putting a band-aid on a corpse: Incentives for nurses in the Indian public health care system

Resource type
Journal Article
Authors/contributors
Title
Putting a band-aid on a corpse: Incentives for nurses in the Indian public health care system
Abstract
The public Indian health care system is plagued by high staff absence, low effort by providers, and limited use by potential beneficiaries who prefer private alternatives. This artice reports the results of an experiment carried out with a district administration and a nongovernmental organization (NGO). The presence of government nurses in government public health facilities (subcenters and aid-posts) was recorded by the NGO, and the government took steps to punish the worst delinquents. Initially, the monitoring system was extremely effective. This shows that nurses are responsive to financial incentives. But after a few months, the local health administration appears to have undermined the scheme from the inside by letting the nurses claim an increasing number of “exempt days.” Eighteen months after its inception, the program had become completely ineffective.
Publication
Journal of the European Economic Association
Volume
6
Issue
2-3
Pages
487-500
Date
2008
Journal Abbr
J Eur Econ Assoc
ISSN
1542-4766
Short Title
Putting a Band-Aid on a Corpse
Accessed
21/12/2020, 15:17
Library Catalogue
PubMed Central
Extra
PMID: 20182650 PMCID: PMC2826809
Citation
Banerjee, A. V., Glennerster, R., & Duflo, E. (2008). Putting a band-aid on a corpse: Incentives for nurses in the Indian public health care system. Journal of the European Economic Association, 6(2–3), 487–500. https://doi.org/10.1162/JEEA.2008.6.2-3.487