The Kawkreik Township, Dooplaya District KNU office opened the clinic in the Mae Kanel village in Nu Poe area on November 20, 2013.

Pa Doh Saw Eh Kaw Thaw, secretary of the KNU’s Kawkareik Township office said villagers in Mae Kanel village and surrounding villages have for too long been isolated and unable to access healthcare.

Speaking to Karen News, Padoh Saw Eh Kaw Thaw said.

“It is far for the villagers from this area to travel to the clinic at Myawaddy. After discussions with the relevant community leaders we built this clinic at Mae Kanel village.”

In the past, villagers had to rely on health workers from the village working with health workers from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW). Villagers said the care while appreciated and free was at best irregular.

At the opening of the clinic, the head of the KDHW, Pa Doh Saw Eh K’lu Shwe Oo, the KNU Kawkareik Township’s secretary, Saw Eh Kaw Thaw, Major Saw Hla Min from the KNLA’s brigade 6, representatives from the Burma Medical Association (BMA), the Myawaddy district governmentt’s administrators, militia officers and Border Guard Force (BGF)’s leaders attended the ceremony.

Saw Hser Khu Htee, a villager who was there, spoke to the Karen News.

“I’m thankful that the KNU built this clinic for our villagers. In the past if we got sick we had to travel to get treatment far away in Myawaddy or go to Thailand. Now it’s good for us to have a clinic, especially for pregnant women.”

The KNU officials plan to extend the health service and build clinics in Nu Poe village and Htee Moo Hta village to take care of the sick in the area. This area of Kawkreik Township is currently under the control of a mixed administration of both the government and the KNU.

The construction of the Mae Kanel Clinic began in 14 February, 2013 and it’s the first clinic that the KNU built in Kawkareik Township District since ceasefire agreement with the Burma government was signed in 2012.