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The Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) is a program dedicated to raising money for children from Burma with serious medical problems who are disadvantaged as a result of the political turmoil in Burma. On this website you will find a brief introduction to the situation along the Thai-Burma border and the Mae Tao Clinic, see pictures of children you can help, and directly view feedback on how donations are being used.
The Burma Children Medical Fund
The BCMF was recently set up through Dr Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border. Medical assistance is inaccessible to many people living in Burma due to the high costs of treatment and the lack of free health care. Less than 3% of national expenditure is allocated to health, compared to 40% that is allocated military expenditure (1), even though Burma is not involved in any external conflicts. There are an estimated 1 million Burmese living in Thailand and many cannot access Thai health care. Mae Tao Clinic provides free basic health care to these people. However, the clinic does not have funding or resources to perform major surgery.
BCMF was set up in response to the increasing number of children presenting at Mae Tao Clinic who required surgery that neither the clinic nor Mae Sot Hospital could provide. Often, the only chance these children have to undergo surgery is to be referred to Chiang Mai Hospital or another major hospital. Before BCMF was set up children who required surgery had their symptoms treated and lived either severely incapacitated or died prematurely as a result. The aim of the BCMF is to give these children a chance to a healthy life by funding their medical treatment. All children have a right to healthcare and we strive to provide this opportunity for children from Burma, but we need financial support.
Please click here to see the profiles of the children we have on the program who currently need funding. The most common surgery we fund is cardiac surgery to correct Tetralogy of Fallot a ‘hole in the heart’. If left untreated approximately 25% of patients die within the first year of life, 40% by 4 years, 70% by 10 years, and 95% by 40 years. The children on the program with this condition constantly suffer from lack of oxygen and it is unlikely they will live more than 10 years unless donors fund their surgery.
In all cases it is difficult to estimate the costs involved. The costs referred to in our case summaries are based on quotes from Chiang Mai Hospital. The average cost is between 60-150,000ThaiBaht (US $1,590- US $3,975) per child. If you are interested in undertaking any individual fundraising efforts, making a contribution to the long term funding of the program or sponsoring a child, please click here or contact us for more information.
1. “Open Society Institute (OSI). 2001. Burma: Country in Crisis. http://www.burmaproject.org/CRISIS/index.html referred to in the Back Pack Health Worker Team (2006). Chronic Emergency Health and Human Rights in Eastern Burma.