Mae Tao Clinic

By: Sarah Schafer and Teal Gibo

Today we visited the Mae Tao Clinic. This clinic serves Burmese refugees and the occasional Thai because the refugees are unable to receive care elsewhere.

Some statistics are:

• 300-400 patients are seen daily
• They fit around 250 prosthetics yearly
• About 15 babies are delivered daily

The clinic offered many different services for the patients. Some of these include: eye care, dental care, labor and delivery, basic surgeries, injuries, prosthetics, pediatrics, nutrient deficiencies, and wellness. The clinic was generous enough to give us a tour of all these different areas. We were taken aback by the large number of patents scattered throughout the clinic.

The majority of prosthetic cases we saw were for land mine accidents. This shocked us because everyday we take for granted the fact that in the US we won’t ever step on a land mine. In addition, vaccinations are a daily norm in the United States while here, it’s a rarity for families to receive simple preventative care.

We were astounded by the differences in American healthcare and what was offered at this non-profit clinic. While the same quality of care was provided, the environment was entirely different. For example, in the United States, our hospitals offer labor and delivery rooms that were about the same size as a room at the Mae Tao Clinic where we observed about fifteen different women who were either in labor or who’d just delivered. This goes to show that when treating patients, you must adapt to your situation. Adaptation is also a critical aspect of global citizenship and it was great to see this in acton.