A TEAM of 17 medical specialists from Sri Lanka left Myanmar on Wednesday after spending nearly two weeks providing healthcare services to cyclone victims in Twante township in Yangon Division.

Dr M Balasukiya, a member of the team that consisted of 11 doctors and six nurses, said he felt good about helping cyclone survivors with medical treatment.

“I am very happy and feel very blessed to have had the chance to help cyclone victims, even though we were only here for 12 days,” Dr M Balasukiya told The Myanmar Times on Tuesday, the day before the team’s return to Sri Lanka.
He said people in the delta needed not only medical care but also psychological encouragement to get over the trauma of the cyclone.

He said that although all humans around the world experienced some form of suffering at one time or another, it was impossible to describe the condition of cyclone survivors in Twante.

“You can’t describe how other people are suffering or how they are feeling inside. It’s very difficult to compare one natural disaster to another,” Dr Balasukiya said.

However, he said team members were able to use past experiences to help with their work in Myanmar.

“Our country suffered from the tsunami in 2004 and from that we all learned a lot about working in disaster areas,” he said.

The medical team was divided into two groups, with one working at a community hall in the town of Twante and another based at a monastery in Mingyaung village. Each team provided medical treatment to about 400 patients a day.

Dr Sanjaya Munasinghe, a member of the group that worked at the community hall in Twante, said the team had a great opportunity to deal with patients one-on-one and learned a lot from the experience.

“Living at the community centre was a great experience that allowed us to deal with the local people very closely,” he said. “We were also thankful to the local authorities for helping us carry out our work.”

Dr Balasukiya said Sri Lanka would gladly send more medical experts to the delta at the request of Myanmar’s government.

“We would also be willing to share our knowledge about disaster management with the people of Myanmar,” he said.

The Sri Lankan team arrived in Myanmar on June 18 with the medical supplies valued at US$30,000, and returned home on July 2. The team donated its unused supplies to the people of Myanmar through the Ministry of Health’s disaster management committee on June 30.