What is plan and how to make your plan successful? A successful work is a reflection of a disciplined, delicate and strictly maintained plan. These discipline is discussed in above discussion. I know it never can satisfy you, but it is the summery. And I hope it will help you.

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Health Service Planning
Shakil Ahmed
BDS-1st
Batch, Final Year Student
Session: 2011-12, Roll: 31
Dhaka University Reg. No: 4005
Sir Salimullah Medical College Dental Unit
Plan & Planning:
A plan is a well thought decision about a course of action. Planning is a continuous, dynamic &
systematic process of defining the problem, setting priorities, developing scientific goals and
objectives, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Planning is the combination of following:
a) Plan formulation
b) Plan execution
c) Plan evaluation
Think deeply before planning:
 Where are we now?
 Where do we wish to be?
 How do we get there?
The purpose of planning is:
1) To utilize the minimum resources to get the maximum benefit
2) To eliminate wasteful expenditure
3) To develop the best course of action to achieve a defined objective
4) To complete the work in time
If you are having difficulty in formulating the aim of your plan, ask yourself:
 What do I want the future to be?
 What benefit do I want to give to my stakeholders ?
 What returns do I seek?
 What standards am I aiming at?
 What values do my health organization and I believe in?
A good plan will:
 State the current situation
 Have a clear aim
 Use the resources a available

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 Detail the tasks to be carried out, whose responsibility they are, and their priorities and
deadlines.
 Detail control mechanisms that will alert you to difficulties in achieving the plan.
 Identify risks, and plan for contingencies. This allows you to make a rapid & effective
response to crises, perhaps at a time when you are at low ebb or are confused following a
setback.
 Consider transitional arrangement – how will you keep things going while you implement
the plan?
*** STEPS OF HEALTH SERVICE PLANNING:
1) SITUATION ANALYSIS: It includes the collection, assessment and interpretation of
information in such a way that it provides a clear picture of the health situation. This
involves assessing of the following:
Epidemiological Situation: Statistics of morbidity and mortality, pattern and distribution of
diseases etc.
Demographic Situation: Age, Sex, Total population etc.
Socio-economic Situation: Living Status and Economical condition etc.
Health status Situation: Incidence, Prevalence of disease
Health resource and health service Situation: Medical budgets, Medical care facilities.
Cultural Situation: Attitudes and beliefs of the population towards disease & treatment.
2) CONDUCTING A NEED ASSESSMENT OR PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: The health planner has
to set a clear definition of the problems including its extension and severity. For this, the
planner should conduct a need assessment by collecting data from various sources.
Generated information from local peoples, local hospitals and health establishment should
be verified to confirm the actual situation.
3) PRIORITY SETTING: Priority determination is a method of imposing people’s values and
judgement. Community participation is essential to determine the priority. It is mainly
depend on two factors:
a) The Population: i) Large number of affected population
ii) Risk group. E.g. Children, Handicapped Persons, Elderly Persons.
iii) Low income minority group
b) The Diseases: The severity and type of diseases also determine the priority. E.g. Life
threatening disease affecting few people gets priority than common cold affecting
large population.
4) DETERMINATION OF PROGRAM GOALS OBJECTIVES AND TARGETS: Setting objectives and
goals are specific process to solve a problem. Unless setting an objective and goal of the
programme will be haphazard activity, uneconomical use of funds and poor performance.
The program goals, objective and targets will be précis and specific. E.g. By the year 2005
more than 90% of the population aged 6 to 17 years in Dhaka city will not have lost any

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tooth as a result of caries and at least 40% will be caries free. Objectives are not only a guide
to action but also a measuring stick of work after it is done.
5) ASSESSMENT OF RESOURCES: When a program is planted the availability of the resources is
to be identified. The term resources means Man, Money, Materials and Management (4-M).
The resources are assesses and balanced by comparing it with what available in terms of
resources.
6) IDENTIFYING CONSTRAINTS : During the planning there may be many constrains that
create block or obstacle for achieving a certain goals or objectives. Constrains may result
from organization, policies, resources limitation or characteristics of the community such as
lack of funding, inadequate transportation system, labour shortage. All of the above
problems and its possible solution or alternatives strategies should be identified.
7) SETTING ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES: Being aware of the existing constraints and given
resources. It is important to generate a sufficient number of alternatives, so that out of that
at least one may be considered to acceptable.
8) PROGRAMMING AND IMPLEMENTATION: Many well-considered plans have fallen down
because of delays in critical supplies, inappropriate use of staffs and similar factors. So,
programming and implementation essential for successful planning.
The main consideration at the implementation stage includes:
a) Definition of roles and task.
b) Distribution and responsibility of works should be done.
c) The selection, training, motivation and supervision of the manpower involved.
d) Organization and communication.
9) MONITORING: Monitoring is the day-today follow up activities during their implementation
to insure that they are proceeding as planned. It is a continuous process of observing
recording and reporting on the activities of the organization or project. Monitoring is a
process of identification of deviation and taking corrective action if excessive deviation
occurs.
10) EVALUATION: Evaluation should be done to examine the quality and quantity of the work
achieved during the procedure. It is done a specific time interval or at the end of the project.
The attitudes of the recipients of the program should also be examined to determine
whether the program will accept to them, if not the program may need a revised plan.

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