Glaucoma Sufferers Treated at Mae Sot Clinic

By LAWI WENG

More than 500 Burmese with eye problems crossed the Thai border from Myawaddy this week to take part in a free eye care program at Dr Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot.

This year the annual program was staffed by two volunteer foreign doctors. A total of 593 patients were treated.

Last year, the clinic treated about 200 eye patients in a similar program.

Many totally blind patients arrived too late to be treated, said a volunteer doctor from Edinburgh University.

“Blindness is a big problem in Burma,” he said, “In many other countries, patients with serious vision problems can get treated before going totally blind.”

Many totally blind patients who suffered from glaucoma could have had their vision partially corrected if treated earlier, he said. Others who had earlier stages of glaucoma were treated and will have full or partial vision.

A clinic staff member said Burmese came from different regions. Most patients simply can not afford the cost of a glaucoma operation in Burma, he said, so they came to Mae Sot after word of the program spread.

One woman who lives in Kachin State in northern Burma and who suffers from glaucoma said she paid about 100,000 kyat (US $79) for the trip to Mae Sot, less than the 500,000 kyat ($395) cost of a glaucoma operation in Burma.

After the operation, she said, “I hope I will be able to see, and my eyes will be better soon. It’s free here, so I wanted to come.”

A clinic staff member said the high incidence of serious eye disease in Burma is partly due to a lack of knowledge about eye problems and a lack of money, forcing many people to ignore early signs of problems.

The Mae Tao Clinic was founded by Dr. Maung to provide free health care for Burmese refugees, migrant workers and others who cross the border from Burma to Thailand. People of all ethnicities and religions are treated.

The clinic’s origin goes back to the students’ pro-democracy movement in Burma in 1988 when fleeing students needed medical attention and were treated by Dr. Maung in a small house in Mae Sot.