Bago Region national university, Pyay Technological University and two local universities, Pyay University and Taungoo University. The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. For example, in 2003, Bago Region had
University of Nursing, Yangon 1986, and was upgraded to university status in 1991. In 1994 it became the first medical training facility in the country to offer a four-year, full-time BNSc degree program. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in various fields of nursing. Courses undertaken at the University of Nursing are eligible for credit transfers towards courses taken at the Open University of the UK. Each of the following nursing universities also takes in 100 students per year. University of Nursing, Yangon The University of Nursing, Yangon ( ; formerly The Institute of Nursing, Yangon) is a nursing university, located in Lanmadaw