Comparing Patients’ Satisfactions Towered Service Quality of Public and Private Hospitals in Bahrain

Abstract

Through primary research employing SERVQUAL, This paper aims to compare patients’ expectations, perceptions, and satisfactions in both private and public hospitals of Bahrain. A sample of 235 patients of hospitals and medical centers participated in the questionnaire survey. Bahraini patients have high expectations for all dimensions of service quality, especially in the private sector, but non-significant differences are found between private and public hospitals, except for the empathy dimension. Patients’ perceptions of services provided by private sector are much better than services in public sector. Both groups of patients are dissatisfied with the healthcare services of Bahrain.
Key words: Healthcare; Service quality; Public and private Hospitals; Bahrain