The Private Hospital

Taken February 16th, by T'marah Forbes

Urbanization simply refers to the movement of persons from rural areas to urban areas, and urbanization is occurring all over the world and this is reflective of the worldwide shift from agriculture to services and technology. Howard (1996) predicts that there will be 52% of the population living in urban areas at the turn of the next century. 

With an increasing number of persons living in urban areas, there is also an increase in competition for services and resources. This is where privatization can occur. The above photograph is of the Gulf View Medical Centre, located in San Fernando. It's location is very significant, as it is located across the street from Gulf City Mall, and is within Gulf View, which is an area that is known to be for upper and middle class persons. It is very reminiscent of the American Horror Story : Asylum building, which also housed ill persons on the show. 

Privatization can occur for a myriad of reasons; among these are dissatisfaction with public services, and overall better performance of providers of private services, and competition (Albreht, 2009). With larger amounts of people moving into urban areas, there is an increase on competition, and as such, privatization occurs. However, this service is only available to persons who are able to afford it, and because of this, privatization is seen as a process that may cause healthcare for the population to become more unequal than before (Price, 1988). 

With this photo, we wanted to convey one possible consequence of urbanization. We also wanted to convey how integrated this privatization can be, as this particular hospital is in the middle of the city, and not in the fringes, etc. It is located opposite to a mall, which is definitely very integrated.   

References :
Albreht, T. (2009). Privatization processes in health care in Europe--a move in the right direction, a 'trendy' option, or a step back?. The European Journal Of Public Health, 19(5), 448-450. doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp146

Howard, G. (1996). Urbanisation, sanitation and environmental health. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.

Price, M. (1988). The consequences of health service privatisation for equality and equity in health care in South Africa. Social Science & Medicine, 27(7), 703-716. doi:10.1016/0277-9536(87)90330-3