BCMF is now looking to expand the program to include the Burma Adults Medical Fund (BAMF) and Women’s Gynaecological Surgery Fund (WGSF). We have been able to secure funds for some adult patients on an ad-hoc basis but as more patients come to the Mae Tao Clinic requiring treatment, this is becoming difficult. After these successful cases, we are motivated to try to find additional funding to enable more people from Burma, no matter what their age, to receive adequate medical treatment. A relatively small amount of money can completely change a person’s life and help the community.

We are looking for a sponsor/s for BAMF to fund adult referrals from Mae Tao Clinic to Chiang Mai. You or your organisation can adopt the whole program, choose a specific patient in need, make a one-off donation or set up monthly donations that will be used directly for the adult patients.

All the logistics and program procedures have been tried and tested in the BCMF program, and BAMF will be tailored accordingly and adapted to suit any internal reporting or accountability protocols that you/your organisation apply.

For many Burmese people this program is the only way that they can access much needed medical care. With your support, we can make a positive impact on the lives of many people from Burma who have suffered so much over the years from man-made and natural disasters. We know that the program can work, we just require funding.

Adult cases which require urgent funding:

Name: Ma Think Khing
Age: 18
Condition: Rheumatic Heart Disease/Hernia
Estimated cost: 200,000 Thai baht
Details: Ma Think Khing comes from a village near Mandalay, Burma. Her father works as a farmer and her mother sells vegetables from a large container which she balances on her head. Combined, the family struggle to earn US$2 a day. Some days they earn nothing. When Ma Think Khing was thirteen years old, she had a puffy face and an accumulation of fluid beneath the skin in her abdomen. Before this, she suffered from severe joint pain and she could not walk. Her belly button started to grow and it developed into an umbilical hernia. Unable to afford treatment in Burma, Ma Think Khing came to the Mae Tao Clinic with her father. She has been referred to the Burma Adult Medical Fund and we are seeking funding for her treatment.

Name: Ma Wint War Thaw
Age: 18
Condition: Anterio Venous Malformation
Estimated cost: 300,000 Thai baht (US$10,010/AU$10,260/€7,265/£6,370)
Details: Ma Wint War Thaw came to the Mae Tao Clinic in May 2010 with her mother and father. They sold their house in Burma to get treatment for their daughter who is studying mathamatics at university in Burma. When Ma Wint War Thaw was fourteen, she collapsed at school suffering from an intercerebral bleed. She has been diagnosed with an anterio venous malformation (AVM) in her brain. She went to Chiang Mai to see a specialist in July 2010 with the Burma Adult Medical Fund (BAMF). In order for Ma Wint War Thaw to undergo treatment for her condition, BAMF need to make arrangements for her to see a team of neurosurgeons in Bangkok. She has an appointment for radiation therapy in Bangkok in November 2010. BAMF require urgent funding to give Ma Wint War Thaw the specialised treatment she desperately needs.