Health Care
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. In 2003, Sagaing Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region with a similar size of population.
2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
---|---|---|
Specialist hospitals | 0 | 0 |
General hospitals with specialist services | 2 | 400 |
General hospitals | 38 | 1168 |
Health clinics | 48 | 768 |
Total | 88 | 2336 |
Read more about this topic: Sagaing Region
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or care:
“To be stupid and selfish and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, the others are useless.”
—Gustave Flaubert (18211880)
“Babies dont need fathers, but mothers do. Someone who is taking care of a baby needs to be taken care of.”
—Amy Heckerling (20th century)