The cost of cataract surgery in a public health eye care program in Nepal.
Using data from the Lumbini Zonal Eye Care Program in Nepal, the authors estimated marginal costs, capital costs, and average recurring costs for a public health cataract program with and without donor agency overhead expenditures. Each estimate is useful for guiding decisions under certain conditions. Marginal costs are appropriate for short-term planning. Average in-country recurring cost figures are needed to project budgets for longer term program costs or major program expansion. A portion of donor agency overhead costs should be included if expansion requires more donor agency contributions. Marginal costs are estimated at US$3.01 per case. In country recurring costs are about $13.91. Capital costs excluding hospital construction are an additional $2.42. Seva's USA administrative expenditures in support of the cataract component of the program add about another $5.38. Total costs were about $21.71 per case.
Marseille
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Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco 94109, USA.
Gilbert
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D001766:Blindness / Q000191:economics*; D002017:Budgets; D002170:Canada; D002201:Capital Expenditures; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000191:economics*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000191:economics; D011635:Public Health Administration / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies