Extending the network of health care facilities of the Social Security Board in Myanmar

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Myanmar supports the Social Security Board, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social security, to revise and implement the new Social Security Law, 2012. The SSB currently runs a Social Health Insurance scheme and provides directly health services to the workers via a network of 93 SSB clinics and 3 Workers' hospitals. Since the number of workers joining the scheme is increasing, the SSB wishes to expand the number of health facilities to provide quality healthcare services to the enrolled workers, which also corresponds to the provisions of the new law. To do so, it will be necessary to put in place a Purchaser Provider Split (PPS) – i.e. a separation of the purchaser and the provider that will allow the SSB to provide medical care to its beneficiaries in both its own medical facilities and other external facilities, public or private.

The present report is intended to assess the current situation under the social security medical care scheme and to lay out concrete steps to extend the SSB network of health care providers. The ILO social protection team in Myanmar as well as a health insurance expert, Mr Josselin Guillebert, conducted an assessment of the situation and drafted the present report.