Health care system should be designed for all
February 3rd, 2009 By Sim Socheata (the Cambodia Daily) On Jan 15, the Cambodia Daily carried out the news item, Ministry Seeks Autonomy for State Hospitals(page 27). I wonder how the Cambodian population takes this news. Personally, I have a lot of concerns of what this plan might lead to. The Ministry of Health data for 2007 estimated that Cambodia's total per capital health expenditure was $37, comprising about 8 percent of GDP. The majority of this amount comes from peoples' own pockets and health care expenditures in our country are borne largely by ordinary people. The government through Ministry of Health has tried hard to improve the health system and health care delivery with very limited resources, but Cambodia's health care system remains one of the poorest in the region. The government needs to find ways to improve the health system, but the plan of autonomy for state hospitals may not be the solution. We can look at two previous experiences of autonomy: electri...