George Soros meets Dr Cynthia

Billionaire and renown philanthropist, George Soros was the latest in a long list of dignitaries to visit Mae Tao Clinic (also known as Dr Cynthia’s Clinic) based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

Mr Soros visited the MTC on his way back from a series of high profile meetings in Burma with government and opposition politicians, including the country’s president, Thein Sein and pro-democracy and National League for Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr Soros visited to Thai Burma border was to learn more about the humanitarian being done work in the border area and a visit to Mae Tao Clinic was on his agenda. The Mae tao Clinic latest report states that it treated 140,000 patients. Dr Cynthia told Karen News that each year, the clinic sees as many as 20 percent more patients, due to the ever-worsening humanitarian and economic crisis in Burma. The Mae Tao Clinic offers free medical services to Burmese migrant workers, refugees and to villagers displaced by the Burma Army.

Mr Soros met for a briefing with Dr. Cynthia Maung, the founder of Mae Tao Clinic, in her office.

Dr. Cythia told Karen News that Mr Soros said he was trying to understand how border groups and inside Burma groups worked and what the most pressing needs were.

“Mr Soros was here to learn about the work and situation regarding health, education and other social work been done by community based organizations along the borderline.”

Dr Cynthia said that Mr Soros’s trip to the area may have been brief but it was intense and a lot was covered.

“He told us that he is studying what the different organizations did and what were the connection between the activities carried out along the border and the activities inside Burma.”

Dr Cynthia told Karen News, “We explained to him about the current condition on the border.”

Naw Thaw Thi Paw who from Mother and Child Care, the Back Pack Health Workers Team who attended this discussion said that George Soros said nothing about his support to the issues of Burma along the Thai Burma border.

Mr Soros, 81, is one of the world riches men has for 20-years financially supported Burma’s democracy movement through his Open Society Foundation.

It has been reported that since Mr Soro’s ‘study tour’ of projects that he currently funds he will now commit to officially opening an office in Burma and has said in a statement that the move is to help ‘the transition from a closed to a more open society’.

In recent months Burma has received visits from U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Japan’s, Indonesia and Britain’s foreign ministers – a sign that the international community is taking the Burma government’s cautious reforms seriously.