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. In general, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor but is especially worse in remote areas like Kachin State. The following is a summary of the public health care system in the state.
| 2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist hospitals | 2 | 125 |
| General hospitals with specialist services | 2 | 500 |
| General hospitals | 17 | 553 |
| Health clinics | 22 | 352 |
| Total | 43 | 1530 |
Read more about this topic: Kachin State
Famous quotes related to health care:
“It is unconscionable that we ration health care by the ability to pay.... your heart breaks. Health care should be a given.”
—Kathryn Anastos (b. 1950)
“Some fear that if parents start listening to their own wants and needs they will neglect their children. It is our belief that children are in fact far less likely to be neglected when their parents’ needs—for support, for friendship, for decent work, for health care, for learning, for play, for time alone—are being met.”
—Wendy Coppedge Sanford. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, introduction (1978)