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@article{192814,
        author = {Madanlal V. Suryawanshi and Jagdish D. Wetal},
        title = {Altitudinal Disparities and Service Efficiency of Tribal Health Facilities: A Composite Weightage Approach from Nashik District, Maharashtra, India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {9},
        pages = {2433-2443},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=192814},
        abstract = {This research examines the distribution and efficiency of tribal health service centers in the Nashik district of Maharashtra, focusing on Rural Hospitals (RHs), Community Health Centers (CHCs), and Primary Health Centers (PHCs). These centers are vital for providing medical care in remote tribal zones where hilly terrain and limited connectivity restrict access to health services. The key objectives are to understand how health facilities are distributed across altitudinal belts, to study their population and village coverage, and to evaluate their performance using a composite weightage system.
The study area covers the tribal tehsils of Peint, Surgana, Dindori, Trimbakeshwar, and Kalwan, which lie between 300 and over 700 meters above sea level. Quantitative and spatial analyses were carried out using Census 2011 data along with field observations from 2020–21. Each PHC was assessed for medical infrastructure, staffing, patient load, population served, and coverage area. The resulting composite scores helped classify the centers as poorly, moderately, or well served.
Findings reveal nine community health centers and forty primary health centers functioning in the tribal belt. About 55.81% of these are poorly served, 32.55% are moderately served, and only 11.63% fall in the well-served category. Most PHCs are situated in the 600–700-meter altitude zone, indicating accessibility challenges in elevated areas. A few centers—Mohadi, Khedgaon, Kanashi, Anjaneri, and Kochargaon—recorded higher scores due to better infrastructure and staffing. Despite the low population density, the uneven terrain continues to limit equal access to healthcare. The study underscores the need to strengthen PHCs for effective and inclusive tribal health service delivery in Nashik district.},
        keywords = {Tribal Health Services, Primary Health Centers, Spatial Distribution, Composite Weightage, Nashik District.},
        month = {February},
        }