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. The following is a summary of the public health system in the state, in the fiscal year 2002–2003.
| 2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist hospitals | 1 | 200 |
| General hospitals with specialist services | 4 | 800 |
| General hospitals | 60 | 2013 |
| Health clinics | 63 | 1008 |
| Total | 128 | 4021 |
Read more about this topic: Shan State
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or care:
“... work is only part of a man’s life; play, family, church, individual and group contacts, educational opportunities, the intelligent exercise of citizenship, all play a part in a well-rounded life. Workers are men and women with potentialities for mental and spiritual development as well as for physical health. We are paying the price today of having too long sidestepped all that this means to the mental, moral, and spiritual health of our nation.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“For nature, heartless, witless nature,
Will neither care nor know
What stranger’s feet may find the meadow
And trespass there and go,
Nor ask amid the dews of morning
If they are mine or no.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)