COUNTRY BACKGROUND - Gross National Happiness Commission

Table 13.2 Health Institutions July 1991
INSTITUTIONS NUMBER
Hospital beds 944
Basic Health Units (BHUs) 72
Dispensaries 44
Indigenous Hospital 1
Indigenous Dispensaries 6
Malaria Centres 11
Outreach Clinics 350
ManpowerManpower
Health Services
13.10 In May 1991, there were 1,019 persons employed in the Department of Health Services, with 90%
employed in the service delivery points such as hospitals and peripheral units. Out of 1019 persons, 283 were
expatriates. The remaining 10% are at support institutions such as Directorate of Health, training institutes and
medical stores depots. In terms of allocation of manpower between the hospital sector and primary health care
sector, 50% are employed in the hospital sector and 40% in primary health care sector.
Table 13.3 Department of Health Services Manpower
Categories Nationals Expatriates Total
Specialists (doctors) 20 17 37
Generalists (doctors) 17 31 48
Nurses with 3+ years of training 42 30 72
Assistant Nurses 114 16 130
ANMs 80 0 80
Health Assistants 112 0 112
Basic Health Workers 114 0 114
Lab Technicians 18 14 32
Pharmacy Technicians 14 0 14
Total 531 108 639
B. Health and Disease TrendsB. Health and Disease Trends
13.11 Although improving, it seems that Bhutan's health indicators are among the worst in the world. However, it
should be borne in mind that these indicators are based on scarce data.
13.12 The morbidity pattern for major diseases as a percentage of the total referred cases, based on the records of
the Basic Health Units and the dispensaries is shown in Table 13.4
3