Understanding the Experiences of Health Care–Seeking Migrants in Delhi: Trajectories and Challenges

Abstract

Many studies have reported on issues of accessibility and quality of health care among the different vulnerable subgroups in urban locations. To date, no study has been done on the challenges faced by health care–seeking migrants (those traveling to cities for health reasons). This qualitative study used in-depth interviews and nonparticipant observation to examine the health problems, health care–seeking trajectories, and challenges faced by health care–seeking migrants in Delhi, India. Participants described long courses of health care seeking, typically from the district to the state capital to the national capital. There were variegated paths to health care seeking characterized by delays in service utilization, progression of disease, and cost escalation. The challenge relating to the delay in receiving health care was exacerbated by the residency status of health care–seeking migrants. In conclusion, health-related migration is associated with shared but also unique barriers to health care seeking. India’s urban health care reform agenda needs to cater to the needs of this population.

“My young life, finished already?”: a qualitative study of embedded social stressors and their effects on mental health of low-wage male migrant workers in Singapore

“…In addition, migrant workers are also restricted from seeking medical care freely due to employer gatekeeping of healthcare, contributing to delayed health-seeking [76]. Delayed health-seeking behaviour among migrant workers has been associated with increased chronic disease burden and reduced quality of life [77][78][79]. Hence, it is important to push for inclusion of migrant workers in universal health coverage schemes in receiving countries and tackle barriers to healthcare access.…”

“It Is Not Easy”: Cultural Influences of Sickle Cell Disease Management in Rural, Eastern Sierra Leone

“…These delays in care usually have a negative impact on patient health outcomes as a person's condition deteriorates. Moreover, the increased acuity of a person's condition results in higher care costs, perpetuating an often vicious cycle of health disparities in LMICs (Mathew & Nambiar, 2020).…”

“…The participants’ descriptions of the physical pain and symptoms they experience in this rural city are comparable to findings reported in the literature about Nigeria (Ikefuna et al, 2009), Ghana (Hammond et al, 2015), and the United States (Adegbola et al, 2012). The financial strain experienced by the patients, their families, and their community due to costs of treatment and health maintenance has been described in the literature as a common occurrence due to “fee-at-time-of-service” health system models (Amendah et al, 2013; Dennis-Antwi et al, 2011; Mathew & Nambiar, 2020). These types of fee models further marginalize vulnerable, impoverished groups and often result in people deciding to delay care.…”

Ethical Issues when Using Digital Platforms to Perform Interviews in Qualitative Health Research

“…A variety of themes in health research like parents' experiences of Down syndrome diagnosis in their children (Clark et al, 2020), mothers' emotional experiences on deafness in their child's diagnosis of deafness (Majorano, et al, 2020), experiences from healthcare seeking migrants in Dheli (Mathew & Nambiar, 2020), the stigma experienced by youth with anxiety or the experiences of young people living in a family affected by a neurological condition, among others, have been recently explored from the qualitative research angle. This means that qualitative research is been performed to answer questions in the field of health research to offer understanding and different solutions not to one single theme but to many subjects and problems traditionally studied from a quantitative research standpoint.…”