Background: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the inequality of geographical distribution of noncardiac
intensive care beds in Iran using the Gini coefficient.
Methods: The population information of Iran’s provinces in 2006 was obtained from The Statistical Center of Iran and
the number of non-cardiac intensive care beds (including ICU, PostICU and NICU beds) in all provinces was taken
from published information of Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran in the current year. The number of
beds per 100,000 populations of each province and the Gini coefficients for each bed were calculated.
Results: Iran’s population was 70,495,782. The total number of ICU, PostICU and NICU beds were 3720, 291 and
1129, respectively. Tehran had the highest percentage of each bed among all provinces. The number of each bed was
5.3, 0.4 and 1.6 per 100,000 populations of country, respectively. The calculated Gini coefficients for each bed were
0.17, 0.15 and 0.23, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that, according to the Gini coefficients, non-cardiac intensive care beds
have an almost equal geographical distribution throughout the country. However, the numbers of beds per population
are less than other countries. Since such studies can be used as a base for health systems planning about correction of
inequality of health services distribution, similar studies in other health care services are recommended which can be
conducted at the national or provincial level