The term bureaucracy has been defined as "a body of non-elective government officials" and/or "an administrative policy-making group". Historically, bureaucracy was government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials. Today, bureaucracy is the administrative system governing any large institution1. Bureaucracy encompasses both public and private sector organizations that are large, hierarchically organized and highly specialized2.
Public sector employees are derisively called bureaucrats. There are about 22 million public employees2. Public bureaucracy has a major part to play in setting the agenda, formulating health care policy and implementing health policy2.
The primary