After setting objectives and targets the planner should ask himself/herself about the presence of any situation (obstacle/limitation) that may prevent the achievement of each objective and target.
The limitations/obstacles may be:
People - lack of interest, no skilled people
Equipment –not available, expensive (even if available)
Money- no budget
Time - people may not have time
Information - hard to find, statistics not available
When making a plan the environment should be reviewed to see whether it presents any specific difficulties, such as: Geographical features which would be important for building roads, marketing goods, or transporting patient to hospital, for instance mountains, rivers lakes may be serious obstacle to delivering an adequate health services in some areas.
This may influence type of building and nature of health problems.
Related to the technical development of society, for instance, an electric centrifuge is useless in a health centre where there is no electricity.
Which are the most serious obstacles, there may be customs or taboos that operate against the plan, people may be prejudiced against new ideas, or there may be laws or regulations (good or bad) that prevent certain activities.
In Summary in the process of identifying obstacles and limitations you should: