Equity of health resources allocation in Hainan province: an evaluation with Theil index

Objective To explore current situation and change trend of the equity of health resource allocation in Hainan province.Methods Theil Index was used to analyze and evaluate the allocation equity of health resources including health institutions, hospitals beds, health technicians, physicians and nurses from 2009 to 2012 in Hainan province.Results During the period, the Theil index for overall health resource allocation varied between 0.0159 and 0.1610;the Theil index for the allocation within the region was between 0.000015 and 0.111272, and that for the inter-regional allocation was between 0.00706 and 0.050346.The contribution ratio of health institution allocation within the region to the total Theil index was between 0.08% and 36.62%, and that of inter-regional allocation to the total Theil index was between 63.38% and 99.5%;the contribution ratio of the health resources allocation other than institutions within the region to total Theil index was between 58.52% and 88.92%, and that of the inter-regional allocation to total Theil index was between 11.08% and 41.47%.Conclusion The results show that the overall equity of health resources allocation in Hainan is poor and the equity differs by conditions of economic development;the inter-regional difference in health resource allocation is a major reason for the un-balanced health resource allocation in Hainan province.