Yangon: Doctors deemed by Myanmar’s military rulers to be overcharging for their services could face up to five years in prison under a law enacted this week, official media said Friday.

Private doctors who overcharge their patients or who work without a license now face unspecified fines and up to five years in prison under the new law, which was signed by junta leader Than Shwe on Thursday, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The health minister Kyaw Myint in November had accused private hospitals and clinics of overcharging for their services and had promised to take action.

The report did not give details on what would be considered overcharging.

Myanmar, with one of the world’s worst health care systems, has 20 small private hospitals where only the very wealthy can afford to seek treatment, mainly in its biggest city Yangon.

The vast majority of the population has only limited health care from government clinics, in a country that the United Nations estimates spends just 0.5 percent of its gross domestic product on health.

Myanmar’s top leadership prefers to seek medical treatment overseas.

Than Shwe spent two weeks in Singapore for medical checks in January, and Prime Minister Soe Win has been hospitalised in the city-state since mid-March.