Mae Tao Clinic

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Mae Tao Clinic
Maetaoclinic.png
Mae Tao Clinic
Geography
Location Mae Sot, Thailand
Coordinates 16°43′08″N98°32′03″E / 16.7189°N 98.534300°E / 16.7189; 98.534300
Organisation
Type Clinic
History
Opened1988
Links
Lists Hospitals in Thailand

The Mae Tao Clinic (MTC), also known as Dr. Cynthia's clinic after its founder Dr. Cynthia Maung, is a community based organisation (CBO), which has been providing primary healthcare service and protection to community from Burma/Myanmar in Western Thailand since 1989. It is based in the border town of Mae Sot, approximately 500 km North West of Bangkok and serves a population of around 150,000 - 250,000 people [1] who shelter in Burma's mountainous border region and, more recently, the growing Burmese migrant workers in Thailand who live in and around Mae Sot. Mae Tao Clinic has average 110,000 consultations annually. Of them 52% reside in Thailand, who are mostly undocumented and displaced due to armed conflicts or/and poverty and other 48% cross the border to seek health services. [2] [3]

Contents

History

In 1988, during Burma's ruling military junta's violent suppression of the pro-democracy movement, which culminated in the 1988 Uprising (see also 8888 Uprising), Maung was among many Burmese who fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand where she established a makeshift facility in Mae Sot to treat the injuries sustained by fellow refugees. In that year the clinic treated some 2000 individuals. [4] The clinic has grown to offer a range of health care services, social services, training, and outreach programmes as well as child protection and health education. In 2006 the clinic treated 80,000. [5]

MTC patients include sick and wounded refugees, mostly from Karen State, who have been forced from their villages [6] which are invariably burned to the ground in the military junta's 'scorched earth' policy - part of an overarching doctrine known as the 'Four Cuts'. [7]

In the summer of 2008 when American president George Bush visited Thailand, his wife Laura visited the clinic and spoke of her support for Maung and the clinic's work. [8]

MTC Objectives

Medical Services

Child Protection Services [9]

Current staffing composition [10]

Dr. Cynthia Maung

Cynthia Maung was born on December 6, 1959, in Moulmein, Burma (aka Myanmar). The fourth of eight children, she graduated from the Institute of Medication, University of Rangoon, in 1985. Dr. Maung's contribution to the Burmese refugee community in Thailand was recognised by the committee for the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership which said:

‘[i]n electing Cynthia Maung to receive the 2002 Award [...] the board of trustees recognizes her humane and fearless response to the urgent medical needs of thousands of refugees and displaced persons along the Thailand-Burma border’. [11]

Despite her contribution to the local community the Thai government does not officially recognise her citizenship status; she is essentially a stateless person and does not, therefore, enjoy basic citizen rights. This makes her existence in Thailand precarious and casts doubt over the clinic's future. [12]

Awards

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. "Mae Tao Clinic Annual Report 2016" (PDF). Maetaoclinic.org.
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  4. "Saving lives on the Burmese border". BBC News. 5 March 2007.
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  8. "Statement by Mrs. Laura Bush After a Visit to Mae Tao Clinic". Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  9. MTC Child Protection Department internal resource
  10. MTC HR Internal source
  11. "2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership - Cynthia Maung". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
  12. "THAILAND: Dr Cynthia's clinic targeted by Thai Government's crackdown on migrant workers — Asian Human Rights Commission". Asian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
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