A doctor provides eye treatment for a patient in Htote Ko Koe village, Kayin State, on June 6.

A TEAM of 20 doctors from the Directorate of Defence Medical Services provided free healthcare to residents of Myein Gyi Gu Special Region and Htote Ko Koe village in Kawkareik township, Kayin State, from May 31 to June 8.

The team – which included eye specialists, obstetricians and gynaecologists – treated about 3000 patients during the visit.

Lieutenant Colonel Yupar Aung, head of the Ophthalmology Department at Military Hospital (2) in Yangon, said that in the past the team has provided healthcare at Kungyangon in Yangon Division; Dedaye, Hinthada and Maubin in Ayeyarwady Division; Kawthaung in Tanintharyi Division; and Kanbalu in Sagaing Division.

“But this is the first time that we have gone to a special region. Our aim is to provide healthcare to people in rural areas, and I think our trip can help boost friendships between the Myanmar government and its ethnic people,” he said.

One of the patients, Daw Me Tu – who lives in Naung Hin village, about 45 minutes by car from Htote Ko Koe – said that no healthcare teams had ever visited their region before.

“I can’t express my happiness and thanks to the doctors. Groups of seven and eight people from our village have been waiting for the health team since yesterday. We slept in the village,” she said when the team visited Htote Ko Koe on June 6.

“I’m happy the medical team visited our region,” said Daw Lu Kel, 70, from Kamamaung village in Phapon township. “Although we have a township hospital, there are no eye doctors. If we suffer from eye problems, we have to go to Yangon. Otherwise we have to live with poor vision.”

Captain Moe Myint Aung from the Health and Disease Control Unit of the Directorate of Defence Medical Service, said the unit also sprayed schools in the area to rid them of dengue and malaria carrying mosquitoes.

The healthcare team was funded by a K30 million donation from International Beverages Trading Company Limited (IBTC).

The company has provided eye and healthcare treatment in Chauk in Magwe Division, Taunggyi in Shan State, Kyaukpadaung and Meiktila in Mandalay Division, and Pathein in Ayeyarwady Division since 2008.