Why do some physicians in Portuguese-speaking African countries work exclusively for the private sector? Findings from a mixed-methods study

Table 1 Physicians’ personal characteristics, functions, and modality of work by type of employment

	Type of employment
		Private		Public		Dual practice		Total
	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%
City
Praia	14	12.8	39	35.80	56	51.40	109	100.00
Maputo	8	6.40	53	42.40	64	51.20	125	100.00
Bissau	15	15.80	47	49.50	33	34.70	95	100.00
Total	37	11.20	139	42.20	153	46.50	329	100.00
Sex (M)*	18	48.60a	74	53.20a	85	55.60a	177	53.80
Civil status (M)*	22	59.50a	100	72.50a	118	77.10a	240	73.20
With a specialization*	27	73.00a	72	51.80ab	115	75.20b	214	65.00
Function
As a clinician*	28	75.70a	–	–	148	96.70b	176	92.60
As a manager*	6	16.20a	–	–	13	8.50a	19	10.00
As a consultant*	2	5.40a	–	–	3	1.30a	5	2.60
Other*	2	5.40a	–	–	3	1.30a	9	4.70
Modality of work
Own private practice*	10	27.00a	–	–	32	20.90a	42	22.10
Private practice owned by colleagues*	2	5.40a	–	–	34	22.20b	36	18.90
Private clinic*	15	40.50a	–	–	82	53.60a	97	51.10
Private hospital*	4	10.80a	–	–	14	9.20a	18	9.50
House visits*	1	2.70a	–	–	3	2.00a	4	2.10
Other*	7	18.90a	–	–	13	8.50b	20	10.50
Characteristics	Median	SD	Median	SD	Median	SD	Median	SD
Age	51	13.68	42	9.74	45	9.51	45	10.24
Number of dependents	2	3.396	3	3.814	3	3.087	3	3.473
Years of work as MD in the capital city	12	9.37	7	8.933	11	8.742	9	9.016

Note: Totals do not add up to 100%, as functions and modalities of work are not mutually exclusive. *Cells in the same row not sharing the same subscript indicate proportion differences significant at 5% level in a two-sided test of equality for column proportions.

ISSN: 1478-4491