The health sector is revolutionizing itself with the advent of new technology like any other sector. And it is important for all transformations in the health sector to keep the patient at the center so that they can benefit from the new advances.

In the health sector, patients are the primary users of services and facilities. Therefore, to make health services patient-friendly, an understanding of the requirements of patients is helpful. Considering the value of patients’ opinions, Bureau of Research on Industry & Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF) envisaged and prepared this report after conducting a survey in six cities of India with 280 patients.

This study is relevant as there are not many studies related to the decision-making process of customers, their expectations and experiences after taking surgical treatments, and overall satisfaction level with the kind of services being availed. As surgeries are the most specialized field of intervention in the medical field, the choices and expectations of customers may not be similar to other health requirements.

The findings do not provide ratings for healthcare service providers and cannot be used for drawing inferences. However, the survey helps provide insights into the continuum of surgery through the patients’ experiences.

This survey intends to understand the views/opinions of customers related to surgical services availed over the continuum from making a decision of selecting a particular hospital for treatment to the different treatment stages (registration to discharge process) in the hospital. 

This was important as

Surgeries are the most specialized field of intervention in the medical field. For surgeries, customers are in general more vigilant in selecting the hospitals. There are various factors that affect the decision-making process of customers.

The survey was designed to be conducted through a face-to-face interview with customers

• Cost to service equal
• End result