Effectiveness of Health Development Committee Meetings in Healthcare Administration: A Qualitative Analysis

Background: Health Development Committee (HDC) meetings in Sri Lanka are intended to drive key healthcare improvements through multi-stakeholder decision-making. Recent observations have raised concerns about declining meeting effectiveness, especially after a shift to virtual formats.
Objective: This study evaluated HDC meeting performance, identified procedural gaps, prioritized key issues, and proposed actionable improvements based on those findings.
Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using multiple data sources: desk review of HDC documents, direct observations of meetings, and key informant interviews. The study was conducted over a six-month period from 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2023. Thematic analysis was applied to identify recurrent codes, sub-codes, and overarching themes. Identified problems were then prioritized by urgency, impact, and feasibility through independent ratings.
Results: Six main themes emerged: follow-up and accountability gaps, time and agenda management issues, participant engagement challenges, attendance and representation shortfalls, virtual meeting difficulties, and meeting content limitations. Lack of proper follow-up on decisions was the most frequently cited problem. In total, 16 distinct sub-issues were documented. All codes, sub-codes, frequencies, and percentages were consolidated into a single table for clarity.
Conclusions: HDC meetings currently suffer from critical weaknesses in follow-up mechanisms, time management, participant engagement, and member participation. Addressing these deficiencies through structured decision tracking, better time allocation, improved accountability, and inclusion of external expertise is recommended to enhance HDC meeting effectiveness and ensure the committee fulfills its mandate.