Providing Urgent Medical Care
Better Burma has extended its support to Healing Hands, a group carrying out humanitarian work on the ground in Burma. In a recent podcast episode, Shade, a member of Healing Hands, shared insights about their work. The aid provided by Shade and his team is vital, especially considering the horrifying violence the military has been inflicting on the local inhabitants.
After reading the description of their amazing and crucial work below, if you feel so inclined, please kindly consider making a contribution of any amount to support Healing Hands and their invaluable efforts. There are four medicines in particular they are hoping to acquire: Paracetamol Caplets, Flemex/Fluza cold medicine, Fugacar Tablets, and Woods' (Antitussive) cough medicine. To give a further example, they have informed us that for a cost of $44, they would be able to supply enough medicine for approximately 100 villagers for one month.
“Simply delivering medical aid without proper training won’t lead to sustainable solutions. Training people with at least basic medical knowledge is crucial.”
“Our main goal is to deliver medical aid to the local populations, but we also engage in a few other activities. One of the primary issues we noticed in these areas is the lack of a proper healthcare system and limited access to medical resources. To address this, we came up with a solution. Even if there aren't enough properly trained medical professionals like doctors and nurses, we decided to set up basic medical healthcare training courses and first aid classes for the local people. By doing so, we hoped to provide some relief and support to the communities, enabling them to handle basic medical needs like common illnesses and wounds.
Simply delivering medical aid alone won't lead to sustainable solutions. So training people with at least basic medical knowledge is crucial. That's why we started organizing those basic medical aid and first aid courses, and each course typically had around 30 to 40 participants. So far, we have completed five batches of trainings, graduating approximately 150 students. It's been a rewarding experience, knowing that we are equipping people with essential medical knowledge and skills that can make a difference in their communities! In the absence of properly trained doctors and medical personnel, our goal is to empower local communities to handle basic medical situations on their own.
To further support the communities, we have also set up rural health clinics. While they may not be highly specialized due to the limited medical personnel available in the region, they serve as important points of medical care for the people. Our team has one doctor; it's rare to find more than ten doctors in a whole township.
The clinics are equipped with basic medical supplies and equipment, and we provide the trainees who graduate from our courses with the necessary tools to start practicing in their home regions. If there are more serious illnesses or injuries beyond their capacity to diagnose and/or treat, they can reach out to our doctor or another suitable medical professional for proper medical care, including referrals for surgeries.
Apart from distributing medicine to local populations, we also emphasize the importance of long-term planning, especially when it comes to the human resources aspect of the equation. By empowering local communities with basic medical knowledge and supplies, we hope to contribute to their well-being in a sustainable manner.
Navigating conflict zones, like the IDP camps and affected villages, is challenging. These areas are hotspots of conflict, and security remains an ongoing concern during our medical aid and healthcare missions. We have to be cautious and strategic in our approach to ensure the safety of our team and those we aim to help.
The lack of proper healthcare facilities and hospitals in these particular regions poses a significant challenge. When someone is wounded, we often have to improvise to save their lives. Sadly, we've witnessed many lives lost not just due to injuries sustained during conflicts but also just in childbirth and from treatable illnesses. The absence of proper medical care and access to resources has resulted in preventable deaths, which is heartbreaking. There is still a great deal of help needed in those areas, not just in terms of providing proper medical aid, but also in terms of human resources and other necessary facilities. Although we are trying our best to fill the gaps, there is still much work to be done.
For example, though it’s not our primary focus, Healing Hands also does its best to provide essential necessities, like food, shelter, and clothing, to people in need. We also have plans to extend our assistance to the education sector. Many children have been forced to flee from war, and we are committed to ensuring that their education doesn't suffer. Expanding into the education sector will be an important step to provide a better future for these children.
Finally, another of our goals is to establish a hospital in a secure area, especially for surgical care. Delivering such critical care without a proper facility is extremely challenging, and due to security reasons, it's difficult to refer patients to larger hospitals in big cities.”