Hospitalization in Muse Township is out of reach of many patients because the name of the game here is money.
Patients unable to fork out sizeable registration fees are refused admission by the government hospital in Muse Township in Shan State, Eastern Burma said township residents.
Patients need to give proof of having enough money for treatment and pay thousands as registration fees or else they are refused treatment in the General Public Hospital in Muse, said a resident.
“If we don’t have money they (hospital staffs) refuse admission even if the patient is going to die. They will not touch them unless they are paid first,” he added.
Patients in need of minor operations have to pay between 300,000 Kyats (US$311) and 500,000 Kyats (US$518). Amounts for major operations are much more.
Patients afflicted with malaria, dengue, diarrhea, or other diseases or those who are injured in an accident have to pay between 5,000 Kyat (US$5.2) and 50,000 Kyat (US$52) only for registration to allow hospitalization. And they need to buy medicine by themselves as prescribed by doctors.
Muse Township boasts only one hospital and has only 300 beds.
Most local people are poor and are unable to afford treatment in the clinics, which are costlier than the hospital. Medical care is hard to come by in their hometown.
For Muse residents on the Sino-Burma border town people’s first choice is to go for treatment on the other side of Shweli, or Ruili Township in China rather than in Burma, said local people.
In one incident a local youth was in a serious condition with his ribs broken and lungs punctured following an accident when his motorcycle was hit by a car. He was refused treatment by the hospital despite being an emergency because enough money was not made available and there was no registration document from the police, a resident in Muse said.
“Without the required documents or money they (hospital staff) will never take care of patients,” he added.
The youth was provided emergency treatment in Shweli Township in a Chinese clinic. Relatives of the youth could not get any help from the Muse hospital for complaining to the police against the car owner, because the treatment was done in China, said the resident.
The Burmese military junta also known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has an estimated over US$ 5 billion in foreign reserves and from natural gas exports it gets US$ 150 million per month, according to a report of the Human Rights Watch-Burma (HRW-B) on 2010 May.
However the junta used only 1.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health and education and spent 80 per cent on the military sector said the Human Rights organization in April 2010.
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