Health

A Canadian charity and the Karen National Union launched Karen State’s first modern teaching hospital this weekend. The 24-bed, Taw Naw Teaching Hospital will train local healthcare practitioners and help boost local public health services, according to Global Neighbors Canada Inc. Padoh Saw Eh K’lu Shwe Oo, head of Karen State’s Department of Health and Welfare, said the Taw Naw…

Medic Saw Baw Mu Say puts on his rubber gloves and says as he prepares to start cleaning a cut on a patients admitted to the Law Mu Thaw-Ler Mu Per Clinic. “We have treated more than 500 people in less than two months after opening the clinic.” Saw Baw Mu Say reaches for dressings from his simple three story-wooden…

The Free Burma Rangers released a report documenting human rights abuses during fighting between the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) and the Burma Army and its militia, the Border Guard Force on Karen villagers. FBR state that the villagers in the Karen National Liberation Army’s 7 brigade region have yet to find respite from the intermitted clashes between the [breakaway]…

The Committee for Protection and Promotion of Child Rights (CPPCR) will lobby the Burmese Government to officially recognise the birth certificates of children born in Thailand to migrant workers and in refugee camps. Naw Blooming Night Zan, an executive member of CPPCR, said to KIC News: “There are no guarantee for children from refugee camps and of migrants. We plan…

The Karen Health and Welfare Department, a health service provider under the Karen National Union is planning that its teaching hospital, near Kawkariek will be set up and running by January, 2017. The teaching hospital, called Taw Nor [Daw Na], was planned to open on the first of January, but it is thought that unfinished building works might delay the…

The 30th batch of students to pass Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) Basic Medical Training course graduated at a ceremony held on 10 November in Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 7 territory. The 105 students, who are all members of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs), came from many ethnic groups including the Karen, Kachin, Arakan, Kayan, Naga and Palaung ethnic groups.…

Eight health organisations from the Thai-Burma border, which have been providing birth certificates and documents to enable children to be properly registered, will discuss their work with Karen State Government departments on 28 November. The organisations help provide birth certificates and documentation to unregistered children born in the border areas of Karen State, including in Karen National Union (KNU) controlled…

Patients from Mae Ra Ma Luang Refugee Camp in the Thai Northern Province of Mae Hong Song were injured when the referral car carrying them was hit by a falling tree on a road, 50 kilometers away from Mae Sariang Town. The accident took place on August 4 as the pickup truck carrying the referred patients was returning from Mae…

Health workers in two refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border stopped work over non-payment of compensation and claims that they are treated unfairly by a non-government organization running hospitals in the camp. Camp residents said that on July 5th, health workers employed by Premiere Urgence – Aide Medical Internationale at Mae La and Umpheim Mai refugee camps went on strike…

A prosthetic leg production center has been set up in Klo Yaw Lay area of Hlaingbwe Township on June 20, with the coordination of Kawthoolei Department of Health and Welfare and Mae Tao Clinic with support of donors from South Korea. The building of the prosthetic workshop started in February 2016. Padoh Saw Eh K’lu Shwe Oo, head of the…