American Specialist Children’s Hospital in Mawlamyine Overflowing with Patients

July 28, 2010

WCRP: More children in Mon State are getting sick this year than last year and hospitals are struggling to keep up. The American Specialist Children’s Hospital in Mawlamyine was full in May. Since June, patients have been sharing beds and sleeping on the floor. The hospital, which mainly treats children from the Thanphyuzayart area, has two hundred and fifteen beds. Children are sleeping three to a bed and patients continue to arrive. “Even though the hospital has a lot of beds, there aren’t enough for my child and he has to sleep on the floor,” said one patient’s mother.

“Last month there were over seven hundred patients in the children’s hospital. This month that number has increased to over one thousand,” said a nurse from the Children’s Hospital. Neighbors living near to the hospital have seen many new children arrive daily, but very few leave.

The nurse added, “During the months of June and July more than twenty children have died from influenza and other contagious diseases.” This month is expected to be worse for all patients, as influenza and other contagious diseases are spreading quickly among the children in the overcrowded hospital.

Patients who need blood transfusions told WCRP’s field reporter that the hospital’s supply of blood is very low and that blood had to be obtained from Mawlamyine Hospital.

It is not only patients in Mawlamyine that are suffering due to overcrowded hospitals. Myawaddy and Kawkareik Hospitals in Karen State have also reported that they do not have enough beds to keep up with the influx of patients. With illness expected to increase as the rainy season continues, there does not look to be an end to this problem in the near future.