The objective of this study is to present new empirical findings of the economics of informally supplied health care with special emphasis on the labor market-related opportunity cost and to measure the burden of informal caregiving for the inpatient at Lemlem Karl hospital, Maichew, Ethiopia. The study employs ordinary list square and ordered logit method of regression. In addition, the study also uses measurement mechanisms like; opportunity cost, proxy good and Zarit Burden Scale. The mean time spent on informal caregiving was 73.18 hours/4.1days and the mean cost of informal caregiving for the inpatient at Lemlem Care Hospital by using the opportunity cost and proxy good valuation method is 689.56birr (23.74$) and 724.653 birr (24.5$) per 4.1 days respectively. The study also measures caregiver’s burden level by using Zarit Burden Scale and the result depict that of the total respondents 51(38.06%) affected by moderate caregiving burden and followed by 41(30.60%) of the respondents with little caregiving burden. To reduce the cost and burden of principal informal caregivers and to fill this gap the following policy recommendations are made based on the findings of the study and the experience of the rest of the world. Enable informal caregivers to balance personal and social life with care responsibilities through respite care, develop and deploy a national caregiving strategy and the strategy should at a minimum include policies; (a) Policy Related to Workplace Accommodation (b)Financial Assistance policy (c)Invest in caregiving research.
Keywords: economic cost; informal care; burden; opportunity cost; inpatient; proxy good and Ethiopia.
