DEA Applied to a Gauteng Sample of South African Public Hospitals

Abstract

The ability of the South African government to provide antiretroviral medication to those in need will be determined by the ability of the public health services sector to efficiently provide that medication. If the delivery of other health services can be used as a guide, the goals of the anti-retroviral rollout will not be met. The research presented in this paper provides a preliminary analysis of the delivery of a few health care services by the public sector in Gauteng, South Africa. The data for the study was especially difficult to collect, suggesting the need for hospital level data information systems, as well as staff trained to analyse the information collected. The empirical results from the analysis suggest that services provided by small-scale medical facilities waste fewer resources, while medical centres offering more technical services, such as surgeries, also appear to deliver medical services more efficiently.