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:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Those of us who are in this world to educate—to care for—young children have a special calling: a calling that has very little to do with the collection of expensive possessions but has a lot to do with the worth inside of heads and hearts. In fact, that’s our domain: the heads and hearts of the next generation, the thoughts and feelings of the future.”
—Fred M. Rogers, U.S. writer and host of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. “That Which is Essential Is Invisible to the Eye,” Young Children (July 1994)