Twenty years ago on the edges of the Northern Thai town of Mae Sot, a makeshift clinic was built in a run-down wooden building. Its founder
Dr. Cynthia Maung sterilized medical instruments by boiling them in a rice cooker. Today the Mae Tao Clinic provides a wide range of free health services to refugees from Burma fleeing civil war, migrant workers and ethnic minorities living on the border. For thousands the clinic is their only access to healthcare.
Now the clinic faces perhaps its greatest challenge…. Last year, the Mae Tao clinic was only approved 50% of its required funding for the year.
“I worry for our migrants and refugees, what if this clinic would be no longer? I wish it will continue as we depend on it,” says Dr Cynthia Maung.
The clinic relies on funding from a host of international donors. One of the reasons for the funding cuts is because of the changing political environment in Burma.
President Thein Sein continues to introduce democratic reforms. And this has led some donors to change their funding policy.
This place is a lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of Burmese living in Thailand.
“We can’t afford to go to Mae Sot hospital and also there’s a language barrier. Some just can’t afford to go there. Having no official documents is also an issue. We pretty much rely on the Student Mae Tao Clinic.”
The Mae Tao clinic provides a free health service for both in and out patients, including surgery, dental and eye care and reproductive health.
The clinic even houses a prosthetic department.
Mae Tao provides vaccinations and its preventative work for diseases like HIV and malaria has saved thousands. In addition, the clinic runs support services and an orphanage by the Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp. It also provides education to 1,000 students through the Children’s Development Centre, says this clinic staff.
“In Pegu, near Rangoon, you go to hospital – for example for child birth – and it costs money. You have to buy everything yourself, even cotton balls. If you don’t have the money, you have to find it. But here you don’t have to pay. Not even for food – look here, there’s a lot of food.”
An emergency fundraising appeal in June raised nearly 250 thousand US dollars. But the clinic needs another 300 thousand US dollars to get them through the year. Staff has taken a 20 % pay cut and patient referrals to the Mae Sot hospital have been slashed to only emergencies.
Food rates for the children’s boarding house have also been cut to 9 US dollars per month, says the clinic founder Dr Cynthia Maung.
“We managed to allocate budget for medical treatments but had to cut down other social assistance services such as providing food and transportation from their usual standards.”
The Minister of the Burmese President’s Office Aung Min has met twice with Dr Cynthia and the staff. They discussed establishing a link between the clinic, Mae Sot hospital and Myawaddy hospital in Burma for patient transfers. He would like to see this clinic moved into Burma.
“As the time and the system have changed, why should they carry on the hard way abroad? Why not come back and work inside the country officially? I’m here to persuade them back. Some are convinced and some said they want to wait and see first.”
Precarious ceasefires on the Burmese side of the border between the Karen National Union and the Burmese government - and a reform process that is still in its infancy mean the conditions in Burma are not right for the clinic to relocate. And Dr Cynthia has said the clinic’s work is vital on the border.
“If there’s better health care in Burma, then there wouldn’t be a lot of people coming here. About 50% of the patients here come from inside Burma. In order to reduce their number, it is important to improve the health care system in the country.”
The clinic has had to work hard to make it through the year. They continue to look after more and more patients with less money.
If funding continues to be cut, thousands of people who rely on the clinics many services will suffer.
