Bhutan’s overall health system has seen phenomenal progress over the past five decades.
Despite its difficult geographical terrain and dispersed settlements, access to health services has improved significantly. This was reflected in the Health System Review Report of Bhutan which was released in Thimphu yesterday.
The report stated that about 95 percent of the population have access to health facilities. Due to this, the general life expectancy of Bhutanese people has improved from 32.4 years in 1960s to 69.5 years at the moment. In addition, the health sector in the country is also nearing towards achieving 100 percent immunisation coverage. During the last five years, the infant mortality rate has decreased by over 70 percent.
The publication also highlighted some key constraints and challenges of the present health system such as shortage of human resources and spike in the number of non-communicable diseases.
The review report calls the attention of the policy makers to bring reforms in the health sector.
“For example, in some district hospitals, we don’t have surgical specialists to carry out operations,” said the Author of the Health System Review Report, Dr. Sangay Thinley. He further said, “We need to work hard to address the human resources crunch at the earliest.”
The report, first of its kind was the collective effort of a team of six nationals. The works to compile publication started a year ago.
