The good health of the people can be one of the biggest assets of a country. Thus, public healthcare is of great importance for a nation.

With plans for decentralization of healthcare in October, the Ministry of Health and Sports is taking steps for the improvement of healthcare services and quality, and the safety of patients across the country.

To make healthcare services more effective, the Ministry of Health will decentralize its authority by giving more power to the heads of regional and state health departments and medical superintendents from October.

The regional heads and medical superintendents would get more authority in terms of administration, management, and maintenance of buildings and machinery.

Under the reforms, the health leaders in regions and states would no longer need to wait for orders or permissions from superiors, and they would be able to make their own decisions on their operations, but they would have to take responsibility and be accountable for their works.

To make this possible, the Union Government will lay down directives, rules, and procedures for them.

Meanwhile, to improve the healthcare situation, the central body would need to make more efforts for monitoring health services through checklists and providing assistance where needed.

Hence, those involved in providing healthcare services to the people in regions and states would be obliged to consider their daily operations as their own affairs, and prioritize the needs of their patients.

We are confident that the healthcare services in regions and states would be more effective due to the collective strength of the regional social affairs ministers and the employees of the Ministry of Health and Sports.

In fact, the regional and state health departments are extensions of the Ministry of Health and Sports and thus, they require more support and aid to effectively carry out their tasks, with the delegation of more authority concerning their administration, management, staff affairs, and finance.

The ultimate goal of the Myanmar National Health Plan (2017-2021) is to be able to provide basic healthcare services at a low cost in any area by the 2020-2021 fiscal year. To reach that goal, the National Health Plan envisages cooperation with healthcare organizations, private healthcare services, non-governmental organizations, ethnic healthcare teams, development partners, and healthcare programmes.

We are confident that all staff from the Ministry of Health and Sports will carry out the task of providing quality healthcare services to the people in a well-coordinated and efficient manner.

GNLM