Country
66 -
Table 1
Ratio of population per physician and per hospital
bed in selected Asian countries
Years
Population per physician
Population per hospital bed
Burma
1961
1971
Indonesia
1966
29 000
1972
21 000
Japan
1971
Korea (South)
1963
2 972
1971
1 969
Malaysia
1967
4 860
(Peninsular)
1972
5 000
12 800
9 000
850
2 070 1 360
1 450 (1965) 1 450 (1971)
97
2 573
1 823
309 307 (1971)
New Zealand
1971
844
138
Pakistan'
1967
5 620
1972
4 300
3 560
1 800
Philippines
1965
1 444
1 112
1969
1 233
914
Singapore
1967
1 780
282
1971
1 000
287
1 Number of registered doctors country.
-
not all are resident and working in the
Sources:
23, No. 3, 1970, WHO, Geneva;
World Health Statistics Report, Vol. Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Far East, 1972, Economic Commis- sion for Asia and the Far East; "Population and family planning programmes:
A factbook",
Nortman, quoted in International Labour Review, May-June 1974; various national statistics.
Employers' liability schemes
D.
7. In the paper "Social Security in Asia" it was observed that one of the characteristics of systems of social protection in the region is the prevalence of schemes which impose upon employers, liability for the direct provision of benefits to their workers, mainly in respect of the contingencies of employment injury, sick- ness and maternity. It may be accepted that one of the major reasons for the preference for this type of scheme is its ease of implementation. If, in spite of the known weaknesses of employer liability schemes, governments could not foresee when they would be equipped to launch more sophisticated schemes, they had little alternative but to adopt legislation which placed the necessary obligations on employers, and thus ensure that some progress would be made until conditions became favourable for the introduction of more effective systems. In the case of employment injury, the direct responsibility of employers naturally encouraged them to enforce preventive measures, which are in the interests of their workers. Ey means of this type of legislation on social protection, governments imposed general standards similar to those accepted by enlightened employers. These general standards have formed a basis for negotiations of improved conditions between representatives of employers and of workers.
8. However, the way in which these schemes have operated in practice has revealed very serious shortcomings which have greatly detracted from their effectiveness as social security measures. This has been most evident in the workmen's compensation schemes. Whilst some employers have exemplary and very
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