Before I share my experience during my elective at Mae Tao Clinic, here's an introduction and background story about the clinic itself.
I came across the clinic as I searched online for some interesting places to do my electives and I stumbled on a forum for medical students and one student posted about his own experience volunteering at Mae Tao Clinic. What really attracted me about the clinic was that it was built back in 1988 to help treat Burmese refugees who fled Burma when the war broke.
Lucky for me, that student left the contact detail of the volunteer co-ordinator, Eh Thwa, so I contacted her right away.
The clinic was opened back in 1988 by Dr Cynthia Maung to treat war survivors. Some needed leg amputation after being injured by landmines. Most needed food and water to deal with the hunger after running away for so many days. All just needed a shelter where they could feel safe from the military crackdown. To this day, Mae Tao Clinic continues to provide health services to these refugees who are now, due to lack of funding in healthcare by the Burmese military government, faced with illnesses like TB, Malaria, HIV and many others.
| The release of Aung San Suu Kyi from the house arrest has given these refugees some ray of hope |
When I arrived on my first day, I saw that the clinic was beyond busy than any other clinics and hospitals I have ever done my rotation at. It was barely 9am yet the queue of people lining up to register for the first time was beyond the building that housed the registration counter. In addition, there were also a lot of people already waiting outside many other buildings that housed different clinics. According to the pamphlet that I was given later, Mae Tao Clinic provides services to around 500 patients every day.
After I went to see Eh Thwa, I was taken to see around the clinic by one of the staff called Jeju (at least that's how it was pronounced). According to Jeju, all the clinics were run by so-called Medics, a group of local health-practitioners, who were trained by foreign doctors who came to volunteer at the clinic only once a year. These foreign doctors would also come bringing medical supplies and instruments for these Medics to use.
While these Medics may not have a certified medical degree to validate their medical knowledge, their training, which lasted for around 9 months, provided them with sufficient (if not excellent given the short training period and the language barrier) medical skills to deal with the cases their community. The more senior Medics will then continue to train the younger volunteer/community health worker with these skills to ensure the clinic will continue to have a good supply of staff equipped with the necessary medical skills.
Mae Tao Clinic provides service in many areas. The reproductive health service includes antenatal and postnatal check, newborn delivery, family planning and contraceptive advice. The child health clinic includes vaccination programme. The clinic also provides sexual health services including blood test for detection of HIV and other STIs. Patients found to have HIV or STIs will also be given counselling and advise about their lifestyle. The clinic has also opened a new mental health centre to treat patients who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms. According to Jeju, these patients were normally young teens who tried drugs when they visited big cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
The Surgery department carries our mainly hernia and hydrocoele surgeries apart from dealing with wounds of various causes. The medical department deals with various other illnesses like pneumonia, malaria and TB. If the treatment of these patients is beyond what the clinic can provide, they will be referred to Mae Sot General Hospital for further follow up. Despite its lack of resource, Mae Tao Clinic asks the patients to pay only 30THB on registration. However, if they can't pay (which is most of the cases), Mae Tao Clinic still provides the service just the same as those who can pay.
| Dental clinic |
| The newly-built Mental Health clinic |
| The 'ward' for patients with chronic TB the clinic cannot afford to buy the medication for |
| The Eye Clinic |
| The Reproductive Health Outpatient |
| The Child Health Outpatient |
| The Laboratory for blood-testing |
Mae Tao Clinic, in addition to its healthcare service provider role, also serves as a non-profit organisation dedicated to ensuring that these Burmese refugees get their most basic need. The clinic has opened several boarding houses to provide sanitary accommodation for the children of these refugees apart from setting up a special education programme to ensure these children get the education they need but could not get because of their situation.
From my observation, the clinic works very much like a community centre in which the refugees can come and gather all throughout the day to do some activities together. There is a children recreation centre in which children, whether they're being treated at the clinic or their family members are being treated, can play with the toys or take part in activities organised by volunteers. The clinic also has a library and a computer room with internet access and both are open for the patients and public to use.
| The patient's dining room. The clinic used to provide food for everyone in the patients' family but due to limited fund, only one family member can eat with each patient |
| The library for children and patients to read. They can come at anytime even if they're not being treated at the clinic |
| food stall for patients' family members to get food while waiting at the clinic |
While being on the tour with Jeju, I had this mixed feelings of pure disgust, terrible pity and sheer amazement. For someone who has had the opportunity to work in a hospital where everything is spick-and-span and cleanliness is inspected and expected, I could not imagine how the infection control nurses from UK hospitals would react to having stray dogs under patient's bed or treating patients on a wooden table covered only by plastic. My disgust aside, I did not have any choice but to feel pity for these refugees who had the bad luck of being in a country torn in war and forced to live their lives under such sorry states. Given the opportunity, these people may well work their way out of the terrible fate but opportunity is not something they can get and that was what amazed me most. Despite their lack of modern-time luxuries, they continue to survive through any means possible and at the moment, it seems like Mae Tao Clinic is the only way they can secure a reasonable and good future for their children. My amazement also stemmed from seeing the dedication of the people working at the clinic. Despite the lack of advance technologies and instruments, they continue to dedicate their time and skills to help these refugees.
Mae Tao Clinic needs donations in any forms all year round. However monetary donation will make it easier for the clinic to fund their programmes and buy food and medication. Only 115THB is needed to cover the cost of anti-malarial medication for one person while 350THB could cover food rations for one child for a month. It is also only 550THB to cover the costs of teaching materials for a child for a year.
If you want to know more about Mae Tao Clinic and their amazing works, do visit their website here. They also have a Facebook page. If you want to make a donation, you can do it directly into the bank account:
Bank Name: Kasikorn Bank
Branch: Mae Sot
Address: 84/9 Prasat Withi Rd, Mae Sot Thailand, 63110
A/C Name: Clinic Mae Tao (Dr Cynthia Maung, Ms Patinee, Mr Panasak)
Account number savings: 212-2-59309-9
SWIFT Code: KASITHBK
Your donations can only be done online at their website.
If you are interested to volunteer or do your medical electives at this clinic, you can contact the volunteer co-ordinator, Eh Thwa, at [email protected]
P.S.: I will start sharing my elective experience in the next post so look out for it =p
