Bagan Medical Clinic

Saturday, 11th and Sunday, 12th May 2019

I was ready to leave the Doctor's house at 6.30 a.m. as requested but it was nearer 5.45 a.m. as we set off for the airport with the Doctor driving at high speed and his younger son trying to sleep on the back seat prior to returning the car to the family home. At the still fairly new Domestic Terminal of Mingalardon Airport, security checks were friendly, check-in for the Mann Yadanarpon Airlines 07:00 flight to Nyaung Oo was simple and, after a short wait, we joined the transfer bus. Our aircraft was not at a stand near the terminal building. Instead, we drove just past the end of the runway, crossed via a cutting below the level of the runway and emerged at more recently constructed aircraft stands where a group of ATR72 turbo-prop aircraft for various domestic airlines were waiting..

Our journey to Nyaung Oo took about 75 minutes and it was hot on our arrival. A police sergeant greeted the Doctor and, with his help, we quickly secured our baggage and met Hla Win Ko who was to drive us to the Clinic at Bagan.


The original clinic building at Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019: Patients register at the now-glazed window on the left. The writing on the window is "Mingale Ba" - the all-purpose Burmese greeting. After treatment, any prescribed medication is issued at the right-hand window.

At the Clinic there were so many old friends to greet; it was a real homecoming for me.


The Dispensary Area at Bagan Medical Clinic 2019

Of course, Doctor Hla Tun immediately started doing consultations and I sat-in for a time.


Doctor Hla Tun and three assistants in his Consulting Room: Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019.

I think 213 patients had registered for Saturday's clinic and they were shared between Doctor Hla Tun and two other doctors, with Doctor Hla Tun dealing with the more complex cases.

The Doctor invited me into a separate treatment room to observe the administration of a spinal injection for pain relief and at the same time, Captain Myo Lwin and his wife arrived, having flown from Yangon on a later flight operated by KBZ Airlines. After a career on a variety of ships including large container vessels, the Captain's last command was the 'Road to Mandalay' River Cruise ship which was where I first met him in 2008 and we've remained good friends ever since. After hunting round the site for the Captain, I discovered that he and his wife had left to check in at their hotel, after which they'd return to see me.

I was sitting-in with Doctor Hla Tun at 11.30 a.m. when the public address announced that the free cooked lunch for patients and their companions was about to be served, so I went to have a look. The Abbott was already handing lunches to a long line of patients but, as soon as he saw me approaching, he gestured for me to take over the distribution and a joyful, if frantic, few minutes resulted as well over two hundred meals were handed out.


Burma 2019: Distribution of free lunch, Saturday 11th May 2019.

The open-sided building from which these meals are distributed is now a properly-constructed wooden structure with a 'tin roof' and computer-printed banners hung on the outside - a far cry from the more modest shelter used when the Clinic first opened in 2011.

When Captain Myo Lwin and his wife came back, we chatted for a while with The Doctor, who did not interrupt his treatments, except for a couple of minutes for formal pictures of the Abbott, Doctor Hla Tun, Captain Myo Lwin and the writer, which the Captain had requested to record those whom he regards as the main instigators of the Bagan Clinic Project.


The Abbott, Doctor Hla Tun, Jan Ford and Captain Myo Lwin: Bagan Medical Clinic, 2019

I sat-in with the Doctor until the early evening. It's always humbling to see how stoical seriously-ill Burmese can be when faced with either lack of local services or inability to pay the costs involved. Whilst the Bagan Clinic makes no charge for consultations, a nominal charge of a few dollars for medication is made although this is cancelled in cases of need.

The intensive schedule of the previous few days together with recovering from my earlier infection meant that I retired hours before the Doctor. Daytime outside temperatures in Bagan of 44 degrees Celsius meant that even local people were complaining of the heat. The main consulting rooms (and the bedroom I use at the Clinic) fortunately have air conditioning and a modern, large diesel standby generator makes up for frequent 'outages' of the external electricity supply.

The following day, Sunday, continued in a similar way. I was surprised to discover that only 80 new patients had registered for Sunday. The Doctor explained that the 12th of May is celebrated as 'Buddha's Birthday' in Myanmar and is a public holiday. This one date celebrates the Birth, Enlightenment and Death of the Buddha. There's a Wikipedia article here. Captain Myo Lwin and his wife returned to the Clinic during Sunday morning and Doctor Hla Tun's mother arrived by car, having flown from Yangon to Nyaung Oo. I'd first met this lady in 2017, when she joined us on a trip to Mon State (described in a series of reports here}.

Slowly, the numbers of waiting patients dwindled as they were seen by the Doctor and then received prescribed medication.

Update on number of treatments

In the earlier post here I reported on the number of treatments carried out up to the end of 2018. I was able to confirm the further treatments in the first four months of 2019 as follows:-

January: 2,709
February: 2,739
March: 3,121
April: 1,257

Note that, because of 'Thingyan', the national water festival in April, the Clinic only opens for two weekends that month so patient treatments are always lower than other months.

Related posts on this website

This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.

This blog has a number of articles on Medical Support (mainly in Myanmar). You can display them all (in reverse date-of-posting order) by clicking here or selecting 'Medical Support' in the 'List of Labels to Select a Blog Topic'.

My pictures

I've uploaded lots of pictures to 'Flickr' but they're not all sorted and titled. I'll get onto it as soon as I can.

Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019
Around Bagan Clinic 2019
Burma 2019

[Text added 13/14-May-2019, 21-May-2019: Edits, pictures embedded 1-Jun-2019]

Back to Yangon

Friday, 10th May 2019

Thursday night was spent at the private house in Hyauk Yay Twin. I had been given a small room of my own but I found it rather hot (temperatures had been around the low 30s Celsius during the day and didn't seem to drop much during the night)) and I’m not used to sleeping on the floor. Eventually I slept quite soundly but was up again around six a.m. and we took a light breakfast around eight.


Breakfast at our accommodation: Kayin State 2019

We didn’t have to leave the area that early, so they offered another boat ride, re-tracing the route we'd taken up the Gyaing River the previous day but then carrying on beyond Tha Yet Taw to the town of Kyondoe. Shortly after we set off, it started to rain heavily but the simple roof on our boat kept the worst of the rain off. They offered to pull down plastic sheets to protect against sideways rain, but I declined, preferring to study the scenery at the expense of a slightly-wet left arm.


Our boat trip in the rain, view astern: Kayin State, 2019

After about 6 km we passed Kharit, which we'd reached by road the previous day. After another 5 km we forked right into the Haungthayaw River. The left fork is called the Hlaingbwe Stream and it's crossed by an impressive suspension bridge which replaced an earlier pontoon bridge. The bridge carries the Highway from the Kayin State Capital, Hpa An, to Myawaddy on the Myanmar-Thailand Border.


Bridge over Hlaingbwe Stream, Kayin State, 2019.

We continued past Tha Yet Taw (or Krop Kreik) about 3 km to our destination, Kyondoe. The Myawaddy-Hpa An Highway passes through the town on the northern bank of the Haungthayaw River but access for vehicles to the part of the town on the southern bank requires the use of one of a number of fairly-crude looking pontoon vehicle ferries powered by a couple of longtail propellor units.


Our boat trip, Kyondoe in the rain. Note the car ferry across the River Haungthayaw: Kayin State, 2019


Our boat trip, Kyondoe in the rain. This car ferry is docked at another loading ramp, plenty of foot passengers, no vehicles, with two longtail propellor units on the right: Kayin State, 2019

On the south bank of the river (where all the villages we'd visited were located) the road system appeared very incomplete, accounting for the apparent importance of small boats to get around. Because of the rain, our hosts decided to cancel the promised walkabout in the town but we did purchase fuel for the boat before returning. A few minutes before we arrived back, the rain stopped, so we were able to walk back from the jetty to our accommodation without getting a soaking.

At 10.30 a.m., we were given lunch. I’ll never get used to the timing of meals in Myanmar and the prodigious volume of food these generally slim-framed people find normal. Then we loaded up the pick-up with our personal luggage and set off back to Mawlamyine.

I’m afraid the return journey over the incomplete roads was as uncomfortable as our outward trip but, a little after noon, we pulled into the car park of the Kaung Myat Hotel. I then discovered there was more luggage in store at the hotel which was added to the pick-up before we drove to Mawlamyine Long Distance Bus Terminal, which is a slightly less frenetic version of Yangon’s bus terminal.

Only the Doctor and I were catching the 1.00 p.m. bus to Yangon as Aung Ko Latt intended to spend a day at his nearby home village before returning to Yangon where he works but we were accompanied by a generous amount of luggage including gifts and local foodstuffs purchased by the Doctor, some of which was carried in the massive luggage hold of the Chinese-built coach, the balance being carried with us in the cabin. The seating was 2+2 but the Doctor had thoughtfully reserved two seats for me, allowing me more legroom.

As we waited for departure, I was fascinated by the steady stream of motor-bike carriers collecting parcels for local delivery. I particularly noted one who placed one large cardboard carton on his rear carrier, placed a second smaller carton between his legs and, with no securing on the cartons, optimistically set off into Mawlamyine's traffic.


Motor cycle carrier with two cartons at Mawlamyine Bus Terminal


Thaton: Return from Mawlamyine, 10-May-2019

Around six and a half hours are allowed for the journey back to Yangon, including a thirty minute toilet and refreshment stop about halfway through the journey.

When we finally arrived, Yangon’s notorious Bus Terminal was more than living up to its reputation. Gridlock ensued on the approach roads. We inched forward and eventually disembarked not at a ‘stand’ but at the side of an internal road.

I guarded our heap of luggage whilst the Doctor organised a taxi from the Bus Station to his home. That journey, in the dark with the streets full of hard-to-see pedestrians crossing and bicycles without lights was ‘interesting’. Yangon drivers could certainly issue a challenge to London motorists regarding aggressive techniques.

As usual, I was made very welcome at the Doctor's home but after a light meal all I wanted to do was go to bed, having set my alarm for 4.15 a.m. for we were to catch the 7.00 a.m Yadanarpon domestic flight from Yangon to Nyaung Oo.

Related posts on this website

This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.

My pictures

Kayin State, 2019
Mawlamyine, 2019
Burma 2019
Kaung Myat Hoyel, Mawlamyine (most pictures taken on earlier visits).