11 December 2009: Patients are being asked to donate for medicine beyond their expenses incurred for medical treatment in Hakha civil hospital, Chin state western Burma.
Locals allege hospital staffs are taking money from the patients in order to purchase medicines as there are insufficient medicines in the hospital.
“It’s very unfortunate to ask for donations, but we don’t have any medicine in the hospital. We have to purchase from other medical stores. Sometimes we have to pay for food for some patients in the hospital,” said a nurse in the Hakha civil hospital.
The cost of a normal operation on a patient is about Kyat 10,000, for child birth it is about Kyat 15,000 and emergency operation is around Kyat 30,000 to 50,000.
“We spent Kyat 15,000 for my child birth without food. I paid Kyat 2000 as donation,” said a local in Hakha.
There are at least 1000 patients, who have to go for operations every year in Hakha civil hospital, and there are 200 beds, monitored by a senior surgeon and other specialists.
Similarly, donation is being collected in other hospitals in Chin state. – Khonumthung News.