The government will streamline free basic healthcare for poor people under the National Health Plan, a senior official said.

The Ministry of Health and Sports is implementing the plan, which started last year and will continue until 2021.

Dr Thant Sin Htoo, the plan’s programme manager, said officials are determining the types of healthcare services that it can provide free of charge to the poor.To improve the government healthcare system, authorities need to limit the free services as they are not sustainable. An average of 150 types of services is expected to be included in the basic package to be provided for free at hospitals and health centres starting in 2020, according to the ministry.

There are four needs – health infrastructure, human resources, drugs and medical supplies, and funding – to ensure better healthcare services.

According to the plan’s implementation monitoring unit, 800 health centres and clinics mhave been renovated in the past year.