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, Magway Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region with a slightly greater population.
| 2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist hospitals | 0 | 0 |
| General hospitals with specialist services | 3 | 550 |
| General hospitals | 25 | 750 |
| Health clinics | 36 | 576 |
| Total | 64 | 1916 |
Read more about this topic: Magway Region
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or care:
“We have two kinds of “conference.” One is that to which the office boy refers when he tells the applicant for a job that Mr. Blevitch is “in conference.” This means that Mr. Blevitch is in good health and reading the paper, but otherwise unoccupied. The other type of “conference” is bona fide in so far as it implies that three or four men are talking together in one room, and don’t want to be disturbed.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“I am not going to have 2,000 condoms hanging in my window. I don’t care what it represents.”
—Sharon Zuckerbrod, U.S. business executive. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 23 (November 20, 1989)