Find Health and Medical expertise in Brunei Darussalam

Health care in Brunei is fully subsidised by the government and there are ten hospitals, as well as health clinics, travelling clinics and a flying doctor service. The petroleum and natural gas industry has its own separate Occupational Health Service and the armed forces also have their own medical service, so workers in these sectors are not covered by the Ministry of Health’s Occupational Health Division. Brunei’s pharmaceutical industry benefits from the wealth of raw materials provided by the country’s rainforests, which have allowed it to focus on the niche halal pharmaceutical market. The country nonetheless imports most of its pharmaceutical requirements.

Brunei Darussalam boasts one of the highest-quality publicly run health care systems in the world. Medical care is provided free of charge to all citizens. Foreign nationals working in the country are entitled to health care at a small cost. There are public hospitals located in each of the country’s four districts, the biggest of which is Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha in Bandar Seri Begawan. There are also two private hospitals for those who have private medical insurance.

The government-funded Flying Medical Services division helps ensure medical care is available to those in remote areas by airlifting any citizens who require emergency medical assistance to the nearest hospital if they live in remote rural villages. On occasion, the government has funded the cost of sending citizens abroad for special medical treatments.

Government expenditure

Just 8% of health care in Brunei was paid for by patients or funded by other non-governmental entities – such as private insurers, charities or employers – in 2012. Total health expenditure constituted 2.3% of GDP in 2012, of which 92% was covered by the government.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Brunei accounted for an estimated 81% majority of all mortality in 2012. The most prevalent NCDs in Brunei are cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for 34% of total deaths across all age groups in 2012. Cancer, diabetes and non-communicable variants of respiratory diseases contributed 17%, 11% and 7% to total mortality, respectively (2012). Communicable diseases along with maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions accounted for an estimated 10% of all mortality in Brunei in 2012. A government paper on HIV/AIDS reported that there were 63 people in the country living with HIV at the end of 2013. The country is free from malaria. Estimated incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has seen a very slight overall decrease in the period 1990–2013, peaking in 2000. Estimated mortality (when mortality data excludes cases comorbid with HIV) from TB has remained largely the same over this period, despite some fluctuation.

In 2013 government expenditure on health was 2% of GDP. In the most recent survey, conducted between 1997 and 2011, there were 150 doctors, and 773 nurses and midwives per 100,000 people. There is universal maternal health care in the country and in 2013, 99% of one-year-olds were immunised with one dose of measles. The most recent survey available, conducted in 2010, reports that Brunei has 10 pharmaceutical personnel per 100,000 people.

Brunei Darussalam is not a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the covenant that commits signees to the ensuring ‘the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’.

Health and Medical organisations in Brunei Darussalam
Bunei Medical Board
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