Lack of Primary Care in Rural Areas for People with Disabilities

People residing in rural areas face difficulties in accessing primary medical care, more so when they have disabilities. This paper seeks to identify the reasons why people with disabilities have difficulty acquiring medical and social services. In addition, outlined will be the difficulties and effects brought about by the neglect, and finally, establish solutions that will aid in improving access to medical care by people with disabilities in the rural setups. According to Lishner, Richardson and Levine (47) [1], the major factors that hinder access to medical care in the rural areas include difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified health care providers, lack of training of primary care providers on how to treat complex needs associated with disability, and lack of resources required to offer specialized services. In addition, rural areas have a low population density and are separated by time and distance from urban areas. This places rural areas at a disadvantaged when it comes to accessing medical care and resources. Jones argues that even if there was an equal distribution of medical care, people rural areas would still face difficulty in accessing the resources due to geographic barriers of time and distance (32).